DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1 states that the label comprises four layers, but then appears to recite six layers. It is unclear what Applicant intends “comprising four layers” to mean in the context of the claim.
Claim 4 states that the adhesive “adheres to each other well” and “does not adhere easily” to other objects. It is unclear what level of adhesion is considered to constitute adhering “well” or “easily.” It is also unclear whether the specific “other objected” listed are intended to be an exhaustive list of other objects, of if they are merely exemplary.
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 and 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watarai et al., JP2017116937 (A), in view of Galoff et al., US 2017/0132956 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Watari teaches a linerless label for use as a luggage tag, the label comprising, in order, a surface base-material (10 of Fig. 1e) in which a heat-sensitive coloring layer (10a of Fig. 1e) and a resin layer (10b of Fig. 1e) are integrated, an adhesive layer (32 of Fig. 1e, corresponding to the claimed “tackiness agent layer”), a lower substrate (20 of Fig. 1e), and a pressure-sensitive adhesive later (30 of Fig. 1e). See [0018]-[0022].
The teachings of Watarai differ from the present invention in that although Watarai teaches that the “lower substrate” is to have release properties and may be coated with a layer of release material ([0022]), Watarai does not explicitly teach that the lower substrate is a glassine paper. Galloff, however, teaches that glassine paper is most typically used for such applications ([0014]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use glassine paper as the “lower substrate” of Watarai, as Galloff explicitly teaches that glassine paper is most commonly used as a substrate in such applications.
Regarding claim 3, Watarai teaches that the label may be wound into a roll ([0034], Fig. 2), which would necessarily result in the claimed configuration based on the order of the layers in the roll.
Regarding claim 4, Watarai teaches that the adhesive adheres to itself but does not adhere to other objects such as hands (ie, skin) ([0025]).
Regarding claims 5 and 6, Watarai teaches that the labels may be wound into a roll and may feature a plurality of small pieces formed to make one main piece arranged in a length direction, with perforations and slits (ie, notches) separating the various pieces (Fig. 3, [0030]-[0031]).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watarai et al. and Galoff et al., as applied above, and further in view of Khatib et al., US 5674626.
Regarding claim 2, the teachings of Watarai differ from the present invention in that although Watarai teaches the presence of a pressure-sensitive adhesive on the rear of the label, Watarai does not teach that the adhesive is provided over all of the linerless label. Khatib, however, teaches the pressure sensitive adhesive layers on such labels may be applied to the entire rear surface of the label (Fig. 5 and 6, col. 6 ln. 43-64). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to make the adhesive layer of Watarai cover the entire rear surface of the label because Khatib explicitly teaches that the adhesive may cover the entire rear surface of such labels. Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would have understood the need to select an appropriate shape for the adhesive layer based on the intended use of the label. Note that arbitrary changes to the shape of the adhesive layer cannot distinguish the claimed invention from that of the prior art would the differences would otherwise have been obvious (MPEP 2144.04 IV).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ian A Rummel whose telephone number is (571)270-5692. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday and alternating Fridays, 8:30-5:00.
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/IAN A RUMMEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785