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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tomita (US 20210255558).
Regarding claims 1-7, Tomita discloses a toner formed by aggregation and coalesced
resin fine particles ([0177]-[0179]). Tomita further discloses a method of producing Polyester Resin A, using 30 parts terephthalic acid, 70 parts fumaric acid, 5 parts BPA ethylene oxide adduct, and 95 parts BPA propylene oxide adduct, stirred in a flask for 1 hour as the temperature is raised to 220°C, adding titanium tetraethoxide in an amount of 1 part per 100 parts of the mixture, increasing the temperature to 230°C over 30 minutes, and reacting for 1 hour before cooling ([0325]). A resin fine particle dispersion (P1) is then formed by charging 200 parts polyester resin A, 0.4 parts of 25% sodium hydroxide aqueous solution, 2 parts Basic Violet 11:1 into a twin screw extruder, melting at a barrel temperature of 90°C and a screw speed of 400 RPM. The melt is then emulsified with 3 separate additions of 150 parts water adjusted to 90°C, with a supply rate of 12 kg/h. the resultant dispersion has a solid content of 31%, and an average particle size of 0.2µm, or 200 nm ([0328]-[0329]). This is identical to the process of the Instant Application except for the temperature during the melt and emulsification stages, which is 95°C instead of Tomita’s 90°C (Instant Specification [0126]-[0132], page 29-31). One of skill in the art would understand the melting and emulsification steps would take the same amount of time, 30 seconds, because the same amount of material is fed through the same twin screw extruder, at the same supply rate. Therefore, the value of T x ln R would be 90 x ln 30 = 306.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES COLLINS SULLIVAN IV whose telephone number is (571)272-2208. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4:30.
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/C.C.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1737
/AMBER R ORLANDO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1731
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