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 1-14 in the reply filed on 05/01/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 15-26 are withdrawn from consideration as non-elected invention.
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.
Claims 1, 3 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Calhoun et al. (US 5,888,650).
Claim 1: Calhoun teaches an adhesive article comprising a carrier 420, an adhesive 400 having irregular surface 410 (abstract, Fig. 4d and col. 17, lines 42-63). The adhesive article meets the claimed adhesive member, the carrier 420 meets the claimed base portion, the adhesive 400 meets the claimed adhesive portion and the irregular surface 410 meets the claimed protrusion pattern of uneven structure.
Claim 3: The irregular surface 410 of Calhoun are spaced apart from each other (Fig. 4d).
Claim 9: Calhoun teaches the embossed pattern of the adhesive 400 may cover only part of the first surface of the carrier 420 (col. 13, lines 53-54).
Claims 1-5 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sakurai et al. (US 2005/0003162 A1).
Claim 1: Sakurai teaches an adhesive sheet 10 comprising a substrate 1, an adhesive layer 2 and a release liner 4 in the order thereof, wherein the adhesive layer 2 comprises spherical protrusions 3 on a surface adjacent to the release liner 4 (Fig. 2 and [0016]-[0021]). The adhesive sheet 10 meets the claimed adhesive member, the substrate 1 meets the claimed base portion, the adhesive layer 2 meets the claimed adhesive portion and the spherical protrusions 3 meet the claimed protrusion pattern of uneven structure.
Claim 2: Sakurai teaches the height of the spherical protrusions 3 varied between 10-50 µm ([0010] and [0027]).
Claim 3: The spherical protrusions 3 of Sakurai are spaced apart from each other (Fig. 2).
Claim 4: It is well established that the width of the spherical protrusion 3 at the base is greater than the width of the spherical protrusion 3 toward the end (Figs. 1b and 2).
Claim 5: It is well established that the spherical protrusion 3 has a dome shaped end portion (Figs. 1b and 2).
Claim 10: Sakurai teaches the height of the spherical protrusions 3 varied between 10-50 µm, and the width of the spherical protrusions 3 varied between 50-300 µm ([0010] and [0027]). The claimed display panel assembly is not part of the claimed adhesive member; therefore, the display panel assembly has been considered but not given a patentable weight.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 and 11-14 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. Calhoun and Sakurai either singly or as a combination do not teach or suggest the claimed invention as recited in current claims 6-8 and 11-14.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BETELHEM SHEWAREGED whose telephone number is (571)272-1529. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 7am-4:30pm.
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BS
July 9, 2026
/BETELHEM SHEWAREGED/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1785
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