DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are pending.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 (AIA )
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• BEPPU ET AL (US 2005/0261438),
in view of JP 2019-166706 (YANO-JP ‘706).
BEPPU ET AL ‘438 discloses a thermally crosslinkable (corresponding to the recited “thermosetting”) release agent coating composition, wherein the release agent coating composition comprises:
(A) a (meth)acrylate containing a long-chain alkyl group (corresponding to “release component (C)” of claim 5);
(B) a crosslinking agent comprising an amino resin (corresponding to the recited “melamine resin (A)”), such as an amino resin containing a partially or fully etherified melamine compound which is the reaction product of methylolated melamine (produced by reacting melamine with formaldehyde) and a lower alcohol (e.g., methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, etc.), wherein the partially or fully etherified melamine compound contains 2-6 alkyl ether groups -- for example:
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wherein: each R4 is the same or different, and is an alkyl group (e.g., methyl, ethyl, etc.);
wherein the weight ratio of (A)/(B) is 99.99/0.01 to 30/70;
• an acid catalyst (corresponding to the recited “acid catalyst (B)”) (e.g., p-toluenesulfonic acid, etc.), in typical amounts of 0.01-10 parts by weight (based on 100 parts by weight of crosslinking agent (B).
Release liners (corresponding to the recited “laminate”) are formed by applying the release coating composition to a polymeric film substrate (e.g., polyethylene terephthalate (PET), etc.) followed by heating to form a crosslinked (i.e., cured) release coating on the film substrate. (entire document, e.g., paragraph 0001-0002, 0011-0015, 0018, 0034, 0037-0042, 0046-0049, 0056, 0075, etc.) However, the reference does not specifically discuss the molecular weight of the melamine-based amino resin.
YANO-JP ‘706 discloses that it is well known in the art to utilize etherified melamine-based resins with typical weight average molecular weights of preferably 100-1,000 as components in release coatings for polymeric films in order to coatings with good curing characteristics and strength. (paragraph 0032-0035, 0038, etc.)
Regarding claims 1, 3-5, 7-9, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use partially or fully etherified melamine-based amino resins with conventional relatively low weight average molecular weights (as suggested in YANO-JP ‘706) as the crosslinking agent (B) (corresponding to the recited “melamine resin (A)”) in the release agent coatings of BEPPU ET AL ‘438 in order to provide release coatings with good curing characteristics and mechanical properties.
Regarding claim 6, one of ordinary skill in the art would have utilized known components (e.g., lower alkyl alcohols, formaldehyde, etc.) which are derived from renewable biomass (e.g., plant-based, etc.) as at least part or all of the formaldehyde and/or lower alkyl alcohols used to produce the partially or fully etherified melamine-based crosslinking agent (B) (corresponding to the recited “melamine resin (A)”) in the release agent coatings of BEPPU ET AL ‘438 in order to produce a partially or fully etherified melamine-based crosslinking agent (B) (corresponding to the recited “melamine resin (A)”) which contains significant amounts of biomass-derived carbon (as represented by a carbon (C14) concentration of 20-100 wt%) which minimizes the use of non-renewable fossil-fuel-based or petroleum-based materials.
Regarding claim 7, since BEPPU ET AL ‘438 discloses release agent coating compositions wherein: (i) the melamine-based amino resin crosslinking agent (B) (corresponding to the recited “melamine resin (A)”) is present in amounts of 0.01-70 parts by weight (based on 100 parts by the combined weight of (A) and (B)); and (ii) the release agent compositions do not require significant amounts of other components or solids besides the (meth)acrylate containing a long-chain alkyl group (A); BEPPU ET AL ‘438 discloses release agent coatings wherein the melamine-based amino resin crosslinking agent (B) (corresponding to the recited “melamine resin (A)”) are present in the release agent coating composition in amounts which at least partially overlap the recited range of 10-99 parts by weight (based on 100 parts by weight of solids).
Regarding claim 10, one of ordinary skill in the art would omit pre-treatment of the polymeric film substrates (e.g., PET) used in the release liners of BEPPU ET AL ‘438 whenever feasible (e.g., when adhesion between the release agent coating and the untreated polymeric film substrate is satisfactory for a given application) in order to simplify manufacturing and minimize processing steps.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• BEPPU ET AL (US 2005/0261438), in view of JP 2019-166706 (YANO-JP ‘706),
as applied to claim 1 above,
and further in view of DE 102005036584 (ERHARDT-DE ‘584).
ERHARDT-DE ‘584 discloses that it is well known in the art to utilize melamine-based resins with mixed etherification as components (e.g., crosslinking agents, etc.) in coating compositions (e.g., for polymeric films, etc.) in order to produce coatings with excellent combinations of hardness and elasticity, wherein the mixed etherified melamine resins have the formula:
Mel-N3(-CH2-O-)fE R1mE R2bE H6-fE
wherein:
• Mel-N3 is a melamine residue;
• R1 is a C1-C6 alkyl group (e.g., methyl, etc.);
• R2 is a C1-C6 alkyl group which is different from R1 (e.g., ethyl, etc.), wherein the boiling point of the alkanol R2OH is preferably at least 10°C higher than the boiling point of the alkanol R1OH;
• fE is the number of etherified groups per melamine residue;
• the ratio of mE:bE is 1:8 to 1:1.
(paragraph 0008, 0021-0022, 0025, 0027, 0043-0046, 0048, 0107, 0161-0165, etc.)
Regarding claim 2, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use known mixed etherified melamine-based amino resins containing methyl (R1) ether groups and ethyl (R2) ether groups with R1 to R2 ratios of 50:50 to 10:80 or less as disclosed in ERHARDT-DE ‘584 as the crosslinking agent (B) (corresponding to the recited “melamine resin (A)”) in the release agent coatings of BEPPU ET AL ‘438 in order to provide release coatings with good curing characteristics and mechanical properties (e.g., strength, flexibility, etc.)
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• BEPPU ET AL (US 2005/0261438), in view of JP 2019-166706 (YANO-JP ‘706),
as applied to claims 1-5 above,
and further in view of WEINKOETZ ET AL (US 2020/0095453),
and further in view of MANEA ET AL (US 2015/0038627).
WEINKOETZ ET AL ‘453 discloses that it is well known in the art utilize etherified melamine resins which are a reaction product of melamine, formaldehyde, and primary C1-C6 alkanols (e.g., methanol, ethanol, etc.) as crosslinking agents for coatings. (paragraph 0002, 0004, 0006-0010, 0024-0025, 0032-0033, 0039, 0127, 0131-0132, etc.)
MANEA ET AL ‘627 discloses that it is well known in the art to produce amino resins (e.g., melamine-based, etc.) at least partially from renewable sources (e.g., utilizing formaldehyde derived from methanol obtained from the fermentation of potato crops, etc.). (paragraph 0021, etc.)
Regarding claim 6, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize known components (e.g., lower alkyl alcohols, formaldehyde, etc.) which are derived from renewable biomass (e.g., plant-based, etc.) (as suggested in MANEA ET AL ‘627) as at least part or all of the formaldehyde and/or lower alkyl alcohols used to produce the partially or fully etherified melamine-based crosslinking agent (B) (corresponding to the recited “melamine resin (A)”) in the release agent coatings of BEPPU ET AL ‘438 in order to produce a partially or fully etherified melamine-based crosslinking agent (B) (corresponding to the recited “melamine resin (A)”) which contains significant amounts of biomass-derived carbon (as represented by a carbon (C14) concentration of 20-100 wt%) which minimizes the use of non-renewable fossil-fuel-based or petroleum-based materials.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
NAKAMURA ET AL (US 2002/0022141) disclose a release film comprising a release layer composition comprising etherified melamine resin, acid catalyst, and release-modifying agent.
WO 2022/118755 and WO 2022/249899 discloses release films with release coatings containing etherified melamine-based resin.
WRIGHT ET AL (US 2004/0224164) discloses coatings containing lower alkyl etherified melamine-based resin.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Vivian Chen (Vivian.chen@uspto.gov) whose telephone number is (571) 272-1506. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 6 PM. The examiner can also be reached on alternate Fridays.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Callie Shosho, can be reached on (571) 272-1123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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May 2, 2026
/VIVIAN CHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
Prosecution Insights