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/Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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) 1-2, 4, and 7-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Tortorello et al (6,638,616), as evidenced by Samim Blog post (1/2024).
Tortorello sets forth radiation curable solvent-free coating compositions for optical fibers. Said compositions comprise a urethane (meth) acrylate oligomer having an alkyd backbone; a reactive diluent; a photoinitiator; and, optionally, an additive—see abstract and col. 2, lines 30-37. Said resin compositions are used optical fiber coatings, such as outer primary coating compositions; ink compositions, matrix compositions, and bundling materials—see col. 9, lines 55-59.
Tortorello explicitly sets forth a resin composition for a primary optical fiber coating comprising 20.63 wt. % of oligomer UA-1; 4.86 wt. % of isobornyl acrylate; 1.50 wt. % ethoxylated bisphenol diacrylate; 3.0 wt. % of hexanediol diacrylate; and 0.90 wt. % of a photoinitiator; wherein UA-1 is a urethane (meth) acrylate comprise an alkyd polyester comprising coconut oil (plant based)—see example 1, Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3.
Said composition does not comprise a silane coupling agent; however, Tortorello sets forth when used as an inner primary coating or a coating intended to be coated onto a fresh fiber, a silane coupling agent should be added—see col. 9, lines 33-45 and col. 10, lines 7-11. Therefore, it is deemed the addition of a silane coupling agent is set forth with sufficient specificity in absence of evidence to the contrary and/or unexpected results. In the alternative, it would have been within the skill level of an ordinary artisan to add a silane coupling agent to the composition with a reasonable expectation of promoting adhesion to said glass fiber in absence of evidence to the contrary and/or unexpected results.
Regarding claim 2 and claim7: The urethane acrylate (UV-1) is obtained from the reaction of 45.88 parts of alkyd I (based on coconut oil (plant based)); 22.37 parts isophorone diisocyanate; and 11.65 parts hydroxyethyl acrylate, wherein this composition, i.e., the urethane (meth) acrylate, comprises 57.4 % of the alkyd resin.
Regarding claim 4, the composition set forth in example 1 comprises 66.7 wt. % of the urethane (meth) acrylate oligomer. In the overall teachings of said reference it is set forth the oligomer (A) is added in amounts from 10 wt. % to 90 wt. %--see col 6, lines 39-44. The courts have upheld “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 124 (CCPA 1955).
Regarding the optical fiber in claims 8-9: Tortorello does not expressly set forth the structure of an optical fiber as set forth in instant claim 8-9; however, Tortorello sets forth said resin compositions can be incorporated into inner primary coating compositions, outer primary coating compositions, ink compositions, matrix forming compositions, and bundling materials, which can be colored or non-colored, wherein it is preferred to use alkyd-based urethane acrylate oligomers in harder coatings such as outer primary coatings, ink compositions, matrix and bundling materials—see col. 9, lines 50-59. Additionally, it is known that optical fibers set inherently comprises as required parts a core (glass fiber); a cladding layer; a primary coating and a secondary coating--
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, as evidenced by Samin blog (1/2024). Therefore, it would have been within the skill level of an ordinary artisan to obtain from the overall teachings of the reference an optical fiber comprising a core; a cladding, a primary resin layer in contact with said fiber; and a secondary resin layer coating said primary resin layer, wherein the primary resin layer contains the resin compositions set forth by Tortorello and exmplified the example with a reasonable expectation obtaining a resin layer having improved break-out characteritics, as suggested by Tortorello in absence of evidence to the contary and/or unexpected results—see col. 9, lines 60-65. Thus, claim 8 is found in the reference with sufficient specificity.
Regarding claim 9: It is set forth the compositions are coated onto fibers [col. 10, lines 5-12] and the compositions are curable by exposure to UV radiation [col. 3, line 3; col. 10, lines 45-51 and examples]. It is deemed curing by exposure to UV radiation after coating is sufficiently set forth in the overall teachings of the reference.
Regarding claims 10-12: Tortorello sets forth said resin compositions can be incorporated into inner primary coating compositions, outer primary coating compositions, ink compositions, matrix forming compositions, and bundling materials, which can be colored or non-colored, wherein it is preferred to use alkyd-based urethane acrylate oligomers in harder coatings such as outer primary coatings, ink compositions, matrix and bundling materials. Thus, claims 10-12 are found in the overall teachings of the reference with sufficient specficity for a skilled artisan to obtain optical fiber ribbons and optical fiber cables comprising at least one hard primary layer comprising said compositions in absence of evidence to the contrary and/or unexpected results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 or 5 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANZA L MCCLENDON whose telephone number is (571)272-1074. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5.
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/SANZA L. McCLENDON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1765
SMc
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