DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-13 in the reply filed on 2/13/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 14 and 15 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected methods, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 2/13/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-3, 6, 8-10, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ro (JP 2020-128069) in view of Hayes et al. (US 20070100076).
Ro discloses a packaging laminate. Concerning claims 1, 3, and 8, Ro discloses the packaging laminate (FIG. 2; para. 0020-0029) comprises a PET layer (element 12a) that is equivalent to layer structure X and layer B and a polyolefin layer (element 11) that is equivalent to layer structure Y and layer D with a polyvinyl alcohol layer (element 12b) that is equivalent to the claimed water soluble layer. However, Ro is silent to the polyvinyl alcohol layer containing an alkali metal ion at the content as claimed. Given that the materials of the layer structure X and layer structure Y are the same, the OTR and density as claimed in claim 2 would be within the claimed range. Regarding claim 6, a polyvinyl alcohol is formed by polymerizing a vinyl ester and since there is no disclosure of a copolymer with respect to the polyvinyl alcohol resin disclosed by Ro, the total vinyl alcohol units and vinyl ester units would be within the claimed ranges.
With respect to claim 9, an adhesive can be disposed between elements 11 and 12, where element 12 includes the claimed polyvinyl alcohol layer which would meet the limitations as claimed (para. 0023). Regarding claim 10, since what is considered structure Y consists of the polyolefin layer, the mass ratio would be 1.0, which would meet the instant claims. Concerning claim 13, the polyolefin layer (element 11) can have a printing provided upon either major surface (para. 0020). However, Ro is silent to the polyvinyl alcohol layer containing an alkali metal ion at the content as claimed.
Hayes discloses a packaging film comprising a polyvinyl alcohol-based copolymer (EVOH) that comprises one or more alkali metal ions such as potassium, sodium, or lithium at a content of 10 to 500 ppm, wherein the addition of such alkali metal ions allows for enhancing compatibility and adhesion between layers (para. 0028). As such, for at least enhancing compatibility and adhesion between layers during use, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to add the alkali metal ions into the polyvinyl alcohol layer of Ro.
Claims 4, 5, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ro (JP 2020-128069) in view of Hayes et al. (US 20070100076) as applied to claims 1 and 3 above, and further in view of Shigemasa et al. (WO 2020/158056). US 20220081522 is the PG-Pub of the National Stage Application and is used as the translation, wherein it is noted that the specification must be translated as-is into English. See MPEP 1893.01(d).
The prior art discloses the above but is silent to the characteristics of the polyvinyl alcohol and addition of a plasticizer into the polyvinyl alcohol layer.
Shigemasa discloses a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin film. With respect to claims 4 and 5, Shigemasa discloses a polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of saponification within the claimed range allows for solubility in water (para. 0049) and average degree of polymerization within the claimed range allows for film forming (para. 0052). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have the claimed material characteristics for the polyvinyl alcohol of Ro for the above stated reasons. With respect to claim 7, Shigemasa discloses adding a plasticizer for polyvinyl alcohol allows for controlling tensile strength and durability (para. 0057-0065). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add one of the plasticizers as claimed into the polyvinyl alcohol of Ro, in order to control tensile strength and durability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11 and 12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The prior art is silent to the combination of the specific barrier layers as claimed in combination with each layer structure having the materials as claimed and the water soluble layer in claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Nakai et al. (WO 2021/132683) and Kishimoto et al. (JP 2019-014137) discloses packaging films with barrier layers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PRASHANT J KHATRI whose telephone number is (571)270-3470. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10AM-6:30PM.
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PRASHANT J. KHATRI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1783
/PRASHANT J KHATRI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783
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