DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Double Patenting
Claims 1-5, 8-10 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1-8, 13-14, of U.S. Patent No. 18704646. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both claimed a laminate structure comprising polyethylene resin.
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This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kenion et al. (US20210002422), and further in view of Masumura et al. (PCT/JP2018045740, WO2019117209, use US 20200354551 as equivalent).
As to Claim 1, Kenion et al. discloses A laminate comprising at least four layers which are, respectively, a substrate layer 1(a)(see e.g. substrate in par. 67), a resin layer(b)(see e.g. polymer layers such as polyethylene, or polypropylene or ethylene-propylene copolymer in Par. 60-61) , an adhesive agent layer (y)(see e.g. polyurethane adhesive containing polyol with polyisocynate in claim 11) and a substrate layer 2(a)(see e.g. second film or substrate is pressed against the substrate with adhesive layer in Par. 67)), , wherein
the substrate layer 1(a), the resin layer(b), the adhesive agent layer (y) and the substrate layer 2(a) are laminated adjacent to one another, and the resin layer (b) and the adhesive agent layer (y) satisfy (see e.g. discussion above), respectively, the following characteristics:
resin layer: comprising a polyethylene resin composition (B) containing an ethylene-based copolymer (A) (see e.g. polymer layers such as polyethylene, or polypropylene or ethylene-propylene copolymer in Par. 60-61)
adhesive agent layer (y): comprising a reaction product of a polyol compound and a polyisocyanate compound (see e.g. claim 11).
Kenion et al. does not disclose the polyethylene resin composition having the following characteristics (a-1) to (a-4):
(a-1) MFR (190*C, 21.18 N load) is 0.1 to 100 g/10min,
(a-2) a total amount of melting heat AHm is 30 to 120 J/g in DSC,
(a-3) a crystallization temperature Tc is 25 to 90C, and
(a-4) containing 70 to 98 mol% of constituent units derived from ethylene as a main component, and 2 to 30 mol% of constituent units other than ethylene as an essential accessory component.
Masumura et al. discloses a polyethylene resin composition has
(a-1) MFR (190*C, 21.18 N load) is 0.1 to 100 g/10min (see e.g. MFR 0.1 to 100 g/10 min in abstract ),
(a-4) containing 70 to 98 mol% of constituent units derived from ethylene as a main component, and 2 to 30 mol% of constituent units other than ethylene as an essential accessory component(see e.g. ethylene is contained 80 to 98 mol % as a main component, a constituent unit derived from propylene is contained 2 to 20 mol % as an essential sub-component, and a constituent unit derived from a third α-olefin other than ethylene and propylene may be contained 5 mol % or less as a sub-component in abstract)
As to claim limitation of “(a-2) a total amount of melting heat AHm is 30 to 120 J/g in DSC, and (a-3) a crystallization temperature Tc is 25 to 90C” are intrinsic property of the resin layer. As discussed above, Masumura et al. discloses an overlapping, almost identical resin layer composition, it would be expected that the Masumura et al. polyethylene resin composition also have overlapping properties such as melting heat and crystallization temperature as the instant application. Thus the claim limitation of “(a-2) a total amount of melting heat AHm is 30 to 120 J/g in DSC, and (a-3) a crystallization temperature Tc is 25 to 90C” is met.
Both Kenion et al. and Masumura et al.are analogous in the field of packaging film comprising polyethylene copolymer layer, it would have been obvious for a person with ordinary skills in the art to replace/add to packaging film in between 2 substrates of Knion et al. with the polyethylene copolymer taught by Masumura et al. as the polyethylene copolymer of Masumura has excellent adhesion to a substrate or the like, and preferably is also excellent in easy-opening properties such as easy tearing property, easy punching property, and easy piercing property, and achieves both the performances, and is excellent in content protection performance and easy handling as suggested by Masumura et al. in Par. 44-45, Fig 1.
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Fig 1 of Masumura et al.
As to Claim 2, Kenion et al. in view of Masumura et al. disclose the laminate according to claim 1, wherein the polyethylene resin composition (B) comprises a polyethylene resin (C) having the following characteristics (c-i) to (c-2)(see .e.g. Masumura et al. discloses polyethylene in Par. 115):
(c-i) MFR (19000, 21.13 N load) is 0.1 to 100 g/10 min(see e.g. Masumura et al. discloses 1 to 100 g/10 min in Par. 117), and
(c-2) a density is 0.91 to 0.97 g/cm3(see e.g. Masumura et al.discloses 0.88 to 0.94 g/cm.sup.3 in Par. 120).
As to Claim 3, Kenion et al. in view of Masumura et al. disclose the laminate according to claim 2, wherein a content ratio between the ethylene-based copolymer (A) and the polyethylene resin (C) (weight ratio A :C) in the polyethylene resin composition (B) is 98 to 2 :2 to 98(see e.g. Masumura et al. discloses example 8 70% by weight of an ethylene/propylene copolymer (PE2-1) and 30% by weight of a high-pressure radical polymerization low-density polyethylene in Par. 267, 95 to 10% by weight of the ethylene/propylene copolymer (A) and 5 to 90% by weight of the high-pressure radical polymerization low-density polyethylene (B) in claim 3).
As to claim 4, Kenion et al. in view of Masumura et al. disclose the laminate according to claims 1, wherein the polyethylene resin composition (B) further satisfies the following characteristics (b-1) and (b-2):
(b-1) MFR (190*C, 21.13 N load) is 1 to 100 g/10 min(see e.g. Masumura et al. discloses 0.1 to 20 g/10 min in claim 2), and
(b-2) a density is 0.88 to 0.94 g/cm3(see e.g. Masumura et al. discloses density is 0.915 to 0.930 g/cm.sup.3 in claim 2).
As to claim 5, Kenion et al. in view of Masumura et al. disclose the laminate according to claims 1, wherein the ethylene-based copolymer (A) further satisfies the following characteristics (a-5) to (a-7):
(a-5) 80 to 98 mol% of constituent units derived from ethylene as a main component, 2 to 20 mol% of constituent units derived from propylene as an essential accessory component are contained, and 5 mol% or less of constituent units derived from a third a-olefin that is an olefin other than ethylene and propylene as an accessory component may be contained (see e.g. Masumura et al. discloses a constituent unit derived from ethylene is contained 80 to 98 mol % as a main component, a constituent unit derived from propylene is contained 2 to 20 mol % as an essential sub-component, and a constituent unit derived from a third α-olefin other than ethylene and propylene may be contained 5 mol % or less as a sub-component in claim 1)
(where when constituent units derived from the third a-olefin are contained, a total amount of constituent units derived from ethylene, constituent units derived from propylene and constituent units derived from the third a- olefin does not exceed 100 mol%)(see e.g. above discussion),
(a-6) a density is 0.88 to 0.94 g/cm3(see e.g. Masumura et al. discloses density is 0.88 to 0.94 g/cm.sup.3 in claim 1), and
(a-7) a total amount of vinyl and vinylidene moieties in the ethylene-based copolymer is 0.35 (number/total 1,000 C) or more (see e.g. Masumura et al. discloses total of vinyl and vinylidene is 0.35 or more (provided, however, that number of vinyl and vinylidene is a number per 1000 carbon atoms in total of main chain and side chain measured by NMR) in claim 1)
(where the number of vinyl and vinylidene moieties is a number per total of 1,000 carbon atoms in a main chain and side chains which is measured by NMR) (see e.g. Masumura et al. discloses total of vinyl and vinylidene is 0.35 or more (provided, however, that number of vinyl and vinylidene is a number per 1000 carbon atoms in total of main chain and side chain measured by NMR) in claim 1).
As to Claim 6, Kenion et al. in view of Masumura et al. disclose the laminate according to claims 1, wherein the ethylene-based copolymer (A) further satisfies the following characteristic (a-8):
(a-8) the number of comonomer branches (Y) in the ethylene-based copolymer and the density (X) satisfy the relationship of the following expression (1):
expression (1) (Y) > -1157 x (X) + 1080
(where Y is a number per total of 1,000 carbon atoms in a main chain and side chains which is measured by NMR) (see e.g. Masumura et al. disclose (Y)≥−1157×(X)+1080 in Par. 25).
As to Claim 7, Kenion et al. in view of Masumura et al. discloses the laminate according to claims 1, wherein the ethylene-based copolymer (A) further satisfies the following characteristic (a-9):
(a-9) the number of comonomer branches (Y) in the ethylene-based copolymer and the density (X) satisfy the relationship of the following expression (2):
expression (2) (Y) >-1157 x (X) + 1084
(where Y is a number per total of 1,000 carbon atoms in a main chain and side chains which is measured by NMR)(see e.g. Masumura et al. disclose (Y)≥−1157×(X)+1084 in Par. 27).
As to Claim 8, As to the claim limitation of “The laminate according to claims 1, wherein an oxygen permeability of the substrate layer 1(a) is 1,300 mL/m2-day-MPaor less at 20C and 65% RH” is a property of laminate, as discussed in claim 1, even 1-7, Masumura et al. discloses an overlapping, almost identical laminate structure with resin layer composition, it would be expected that the laminate of Kenion et al. in view of Masumura et al. also have overlapping properties as the instant application. Thus the claim limitation of “The laminate according to claims 1, wherein an oxygen permeability of the substrate layer 1(a) is 1,300 mL/m2-day-MPaor less at 20C and 65% RH” is met.
As to Claim 9, Kenion et al. in view of Masumura et al. discloses the laminate according to claims 1, wherein the laminate is formed by an extrusion coating method (see e.g. Kenion et al. discloses the films can be made of extrusion, spraying or coating in Par. 64-66, Masumura et al. further discloses method of extrusion coating in Par. 43).
As to Claim 10, Kenion et al. in view of Masumura et al. discloses A packaging material obtained using the laminate according to claims 1(see e.g. Kenion et al. discloses packaging in Par. 70).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hu et al. (US 20210276305) discloses packages multilayer laminate comprise polyethylene-polypropylene resin layer in abstract.
Crowther et al. (US 20140087987) discloses a polyethylene for resin composition wherein olefin monomer is at 80% or more mol % in Par. 125, copolymer can be ethylene propylene in Par. 134
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/TONG GUO/
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 1781
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