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 .
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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I (claims 1-13) in the reply filed on February 9, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 9 and 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Koyama et al. (US 20200095438).
As to claim 1, Koyama discloses an active energy ray curable ink (Abstract). Koyama discloses that the active energy ray curable ink comprises of: an acrylic resin that comprises a constitutional unit A derived from a polymerizable compound A including at least one selected from the group consisting of a fluorinated hydrocarbon group, a polysiloxane group, and a hydrocarbon group having 12 carbon atoms (¶118), and that comprises a constitutional unit B derived from a polymerizable compound B (¶184); and a polymerizable monomer (IBOA 23.2%), wherein a content of the constitutional unit A is 40% by mass or less (specific resin 3%) with respect to a total amount of the acrylic resin, and a content of the constitutional unit B is 15% by mass or more (THFA 29%) with respect to the total amount of the acrylic resin (Table 2). As to the claim limitation that polymerizable compound B has a polar component of an HSP value of 4.8 MPa1/2 or more, the polymerizable compound B of Koyama would have the same recited features and perform in the same way since it is the same material disclosed by Applicant.
As to claim 2, the product of claim 1 is taught as seen above. The product of Koyama would perform in the same manner as recited in claim 2 since it comprises of the same recited materials of claim 2.
As to claim 3, the product of claim 1 is taught as seen above. Koyama discloses that the compound A may comprise of a fluorinated hydrocarbon group or a polysiloxane group (¶118).
As to claim 4, the product of claim 1 is taught as seen above. The product of Koyama would perform in the same manner as recited in claim 4 since it comprises of the same recited materials of claim 4.
As to claim 5, the product of claim 1 is taught as seen above. Koyama discloses that the mass ratio of the constitutional unit A to the constitutional unit B is 0.103 (Table 5), which falls into the recited mass ratio of 0.01 to 0.65.
As to claim 6, the product of claim 1 is taught as seen above. The polymerizable compound B of Koyama would have the same recited features and perform in the same way since it is the same material disclosed by Applicant.
As to claim 9, the product of claim 1 is taught as seen above. Claim 9 recites that constitutional unit B may comprise of at least recited formula 3 comprising of
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wherein R31 represents a hydrogen atom or a hydrocarbon group, L11 represents a single bond or a divalent linking group, and R32 represents a hydrocarbon group including at least one selected from the group consisting of -O-, -S-, -C(=O)-, -NH-, and -N<. Koyama discloses that constitutional unit B may comprise of the formula seen in Fig. 1-6 below, which falls into the recited structure of formula 3.
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As to claim 12, the product of claim 1 is taught as seen above. Koyama discloses that the polymerizable monomer may comprise of an N-vinyl compound (¶184).
As to claim 13, the product of claim 1 is taught as seen above. The product of Koyama in claim 1 would perform in the same manner as recited in claim 13 since it comprises of the same recited materials of claim 13.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 and 10-11 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As to claim 7, the closest prior art of Koyama et al. (US 20200095438) discloses that polymerizable compound B may comprise of a single compound HSP value of 11.0 MPa1/2 or less (¶184), but fails to teach or disclose that the polymerizable compound B comprises a polymerizable compound B1 having a hydrogen-bonding component of the HSP value of 11.0 MPa1/2 or less and a polymerizable compound B2 having a hydrogen-bonding component of the HSP value of more than 11.0 MPa1/2 as currently claimed.
As to claim 10, Koyama discloses that the polymerizable monomer may comprise of a polymerizable monomer that has a (meth)acryloyl group (¶31), but fails to specifically teach or disclose that the polymerizable monomer comprises a polymerizable monomer C that has a (meth)acryloyl group and that has a solubility parameter of from 16.5 MPa1/2 to 21.3 MPa1/2 as currently claimed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Umebayashi (US 20180291218) discloses an energy ray curable in jet ink comprising of polysiloxane and THFA.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER C CAILLOUET whose telephone number is (571)270-3968. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, PHILLIP TUCKER can be reached at (571)272-1095. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER C CAILLOUET/Examiner, Art Unit 1745
/MICHAEL A TOLIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1745
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