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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WATANABE (US-2022/0355264).
Claim 1: Watanabe teaches hollow particles which comprise a shell containing a resin and a hollow portion surrounded by the shell, wherein a void ratio of the hollow particles is 50% or more; wherein, as the resin, the shell contains a polymer which contains 90% by mass or more of hydrocarbon monomer units (para. 0097) which meets the claimed range of 91% by mass or more, and 70% by mass or more of crosslinkable monomer units (para. 0092) which meets the claimed range of 50% by mass or more. Watanabe does not report the “residual double bond ratio of the polymer” and the “dielectric dissipation factor of the hollow particles”; however, the process of making hollow particles of Watanabe is substantially identical to the method disclosed in the instant specification, which comprises 5 process steps: (1) Mixture Liquid preparation; (2) suspension; (3) polymerization; (4) solid-liquid separation; and (5) solvent removal step. Compare the disclosure of Watanabe at paragraphs [0055] to [0065] and [0074]-[0076], [0143]-[0147],[0159]-[0161], [0164]-[0166] and [0168]-[0170] to the instant specification at paragraphs [0024], [0050]-[0051], [0053], [0055] and [0057]. In addition, the process of Watanabe utilizes the same processing aids such as organic peroxide for polymerization initiator (Watanabe, para. 0116; instant specification,para.,0041-0042) hydrophobic solvents (Watanabe, para. 0120-0121; instant specification, para. 0020, 0022 ). Therefore, it is expected that the hollow particles of Watanabe would exhibit the same residual double bond ratio and dielecric dissipation factor as claimed.
Claim 2: As stated in claim 1 above, because Watanabe’s process is substantially identical to the process of the claimed invention using the same processing aids, it is expected that the relative permittity of the hollow particles of Watanabe is the same as that of the claimed invention.
Claim 3: Watanabe reports the void ratio being 60 to 90% (para. 0202) which falls within the claimed range of 65% or more.
Claim 4: Watanabe reports the volume average particle diameter of the hollow particles being 4 to 10 mm (para. 0198) which falls within the claimed range of 1.0 µm to 10.0 µm
Claims 5-6: Watanabe teaches forming a resin composition comprising the hollow particles and a matrix resin and molded body thereof (para. 0229).
Claim 7: Watanabe teaches hollow particles comprising a content of crosslinkable hydrocarbon monomer units is 70% by mass or more in the shell polymer (para. 0092) which meets the claimed range of 50% by mass or more.
Claim 8: Watanabe teaches the hollow particles containing non-crosslinkable hydrocarbon monomer units in a content of 10% to 30% by mass in the shell polymer (para. 0092) which is well within the claimed range of 2% to 50% by mass.
Claim 9: Watanabe does not report the content of metal in the hollow particles; however, the Watanabe process utilizes the same metal salt as dispersion stabilizer, namely magnesium hydroxide (Watanabe, para. 0019; instant specification, para. 0043) in the same process as that of the claimed invention as discussed in claim 1 above. Therefore, it is expected that the hollow particles of Watanabe possesses the same content of metal as claimed.
Claims 10-11: As stated in claim 1 above, , because Watanabe’s process is substantially identical to the process of the claimed invention using the same processing aids, it is expected that the resin molded body comprising the hollow particles of Watanabe would exhibit the same dielectric dissipation factor and relative permittivity as claimed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOA (Holly) LE whose telephone number is (571)272-1511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.
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HOA (Holly) LE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1788
/HOA (Holly) LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788