DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-5 and 7 in the reply filed on 7/28/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 6, 8 and 10 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/28/2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 7, the phrase “obtained with the medium for ultraviolet laser printing” is objected to grammatically. The objection can be overcome by changing the phrase to “obtained from the medium for ultraviolet printing” which is how the claim will be interpreted.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Claims 1, 3-5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tamagawa (US 2006/0029752).
With regard to claims 1 and 3-5, Tamagawa teaches a paper support base with a toner receptor layer thereon, which reads on applicants’ medium having a substrate layer and a print layer being a coating layer [0077]. The paper support base includes a base paper with an air permeability of 80 to 190 seconds [0025]. The toner receptor layer can contain titanium oxide as a coloring agent in an amount of 0.5 to 5 g/m2, which reads on the range claimed [0079], [0126], [0127], [0132] and [0228]. The thickness of the toner receptor layer may be 1 to 30 microns [0146]. There may be a surface protective layer having a resin binder, which reads on applicants’ resin layer on the print layer [0162].
Please note that the words “for ultraviolet laser printing” are functional limitations, and given the fact that the image recording medium of Tamagawa has the same structure and materials as claimed, it will inherently function as a medium “for ultraviolet laser printing”.
With regard to claim 7, the term “processed article” is not defined and could be any treatment or test of the medium. Tamagawa teaches cutting the paper to an A-4 size, wherein the cut sheet reads on the processed article [0232].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tamagawa (US 2006/0029752) in view of Tamagawa (US 2006/0025307).
Tamagawa ‘752 teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 above. They also teach that base paper of their image recording medium can have any type of pulp materials for making the paper [0027]; however, they do not specifically teach the pulp having the length-weighted average fiber length claimed.
Tamagawa ‘307 teaches a base paper for forming a paper for electrophotographic recording having a toner receptor layer [0084]. The pulp in the base paper may be selected from well known available materials, such as broad leaf pulp having a fiber length in the range of from 0.5 to 0.8 mm [0031]-[0033].
Since Tamagawa ‘752 and Tamagawa ‘307 are both drawn to pulps for base paper materials to be used in a paper for electrophotographic recording having a toner receptor layer, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have made the base paper of Tamagawa ‘752 from the pulp materials of Tamagawa ‘307. The results of such a substitution would have been predictable to one having ordinary skill as these are pulps used for the same purpose. It would also have been obvious to have made the length-weighted average fiber length any amount, including from 0.7 to 0.8 mm, as this length is within the fiber length taught in the prior art.
Claims 1, 3-5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Igarashi et al. (WO 2019/187578), wherein US 2021/0024760 is the US national stage entry and will be used as a translation, in view of Tamagawa (US 2006/0029752).
With regard to claims 1 and 3-5, Igarashi et al. teach a laser marking layer on a base material, which reads on applicants’ medium comprising a print layer being a coating layer on a substrate [0025]. The laser marking layer comprises a binder resin and titanium oxide, wherein the titanium oxide can be anatase type and can be present at a 1:1 ratio with a polyurethane resin in example A16 [0104]-[0105]. This material is coated to a 3 micron thickness on the base material, which would mean the titanium oxide would be present at approximately 3.7 g/m2, wherein anatase titanium oxide has a density of 3.9 g/cm3 and the polyurethane will have a density of approximately 1 g/cm3 and the coatweight of titanium oxide would be calculated using the following formula = ((0.5*3.9)+(0.5*1))*3*0.5 [0119]. The base material can be paper [0060]; however, they do not specifically teach the air permeability of the base paper material.
Tamagawa teaches a paper support base that has high smoothness and fine glossiness can be used to form various image recording media [0063]. The paper support base includes a base paper with an air permeability of 80 to 190 seconds [0025].
Since Igarashi et al. and Tamagawa are both drawn to paper supports for forming image recording media, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill to have made the paper of Igarashi et al. have the air permeability taught in Tamagawa so as to form sheet having high smoothness and fine glossiness, which is a benefit that would be reasonably pertinent to Igarashi et al.
With regard to claim 5, there may also be a protective layer having a resin on the laser marking layer, which reads on applicants’ resin layer [0069].
With regard to claim 7, the laser marking layer on a base material can be made into a paper box, which reads on applicants’ processed article [0068].
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Igarashi et al. (WO 2019/187578) in view of Tamagawa (US 2006/0029752), and further in view of Tamagawa (US 2006/0025307).
Igarashi et al. in view of Tamagawa ‘752 render obvious all of the limitations of claim 1 above; however, they do not specifically teach the pulp having the length-weighted average fiber length claimed.
Tamagawa ‘307 teaches a base paper for forming a paper base support that has high smoothness, fine glossiness and can be used to form various image recording media [0073]. The pulp in the base paper may be selected from well known available materials, such as broad leaf pulp having a fiber length in the range of from 0.5 to 0.8 mm [0031]-[0033].
Since Igarashi et al. in view of Tamagawa ‘752 and Tamagawa ‘307 are both drawn to pulps for base paper materials to be used in a paper for forming various image recording media, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have made the base paper of Igarashi et al. in view of Tamagawa ‘752 from the pulp materials of Tamagawa ‘307. The results of such a substitution would have been predictable to one having ordinary skill as these are pulps used for the same purpose. It would also have been obvious to have made the length-weighted average fiber length any amount, including from 0.7 to 0.8 mm, as this length is within the fiber length taught in the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GERARD T HIGGINS whose telephone number is (571)270-3467. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6pm.
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/Gerard Higgins/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785
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