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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-14 in the reply filed on December 3, 2025 is acknowledged with appreciation. Accordingly, claims 15-18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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.
(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.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over YAMANAKA (US-2013/0081764).
Claim 1: Yamanaka teaches a pressure sensitive adhesive tape comprising, in the following order, a pressure sensitive adhesive (“PSA”) layer A (“Figure 2, numeral 13), peelable layer C (Figure 2, numeral 12), and a viscoelastic substrate B (Figure 2, numeral 14). See also, para. 0161, para. 0252-0255, and Figure 2. The peelable layer C comprises an exothermic film which is heat-generating (para. 0115 and para. 0148 & 0150). Therefore, the peelable layer C containing exothermic film is equivalent to the claimed “heat-generating element”. The viscoelastic substrate B comprises a thermoplastic resin, in particular, acrylic resin, rubber polymer, silicone polymer or urethane polymer, and hollow fillers, preferably, inorganic hollow fillers (para. 0064, 0067 and 0080). Therefore, the viscoelastic substrate B of Yamanaka is equivalent to the claimed “melt-softening layer”. In the alternative, Yamanaka teaches a melt-softening layer comprising inorganic and organic hollow fillers, with the emphasis that inorganic hollow fillers are preferred (para. 0082); therefore, the POSITA would be motivated to utilize inorganic hollow microparticles in the melt-softening layer (i.e. the viscoelastic layer B of Yamanaka).
Claim 2: Yamanaka teaches the polymer in the melt-softening layer including a styrene-butadiene block copolymer (para. 0105); styrene is an aromatic vinyl compound and butadiene is a conjugated diene compound. Thus Yamanaka teaches the claimed block copolymer.
Claim 3: Yamanaka teaches the content of the microparticles in the melt-softening layer (i.e. viscoelastic layer) not be limited, but preferably from 1 to 20 on wt% basis (para. 0085) and thus it is within or overlaping the claimed range of 5 to 80 on vol% basis.
Claim 4: Yamanaka teaches the microparticles (hollow fillers) having an average particle diameter of 5 to 200 mm or 30 to 100 mm (para. 0083) which is well within the claimed range of 1 to 200 µm.
Claim 5: Yamanaka teaches the hollow particles be preferably hollow glass microparticles (para. 0081)
Claim 6: Yamanaka teaches the melt-solftening layer (i.e. viscoelastic layer) having a thickness of 100 mm or more (para. 0108) which is within or overlapping the claimed thickness range of 10 to 200 µm.
Claim 7: Yamanaka does not report the thermal conductivity of the melt-softening layer (i.e. viscoelastic layer); however, thermal conductivity directly corresponds to the fillers in a layer. Here, the melt-softening layer comprises the same type of fillers (i.e. hollow glass fillers) in essentially the same content (see claims 3-4 above), thus it is necessarily inherent or would have been expected that the melt-softening layer of Yamanaka possesses a thermal conductivity within the claimed range.
Claim 8: Yamanaka does not report the loss tangent of the melt-softening layer; however, because the melt-softening layer comprises the same polymer (see claim 2 above), it is expected that the melt-softening layer of Yamanaka exhibits a loss tangent within the claimed range.
Claim 9: Yamanaka does not report the temperature of the PSA layer as compared to the melt-softening layer at which each layer reached a loss tangent of 0.8 or more; however, because the PSA layer and the melt-softening layer in the PSA tape of Yamanaka comprise the same polymers (see claims 1-2 above), it is expected that the relative temperature between these layers is the same as claimed.
Claim 10: Yamanaka teaches the exothermic material including a metal foil, graphite carbon (para. 0113) which materials typically exhibit a volume resistivity of at least 20 mW.cm.
Claim 11: Yamanaka teaches heating the exothermic film, which is equivalent to the claimed heat-generating element as discussed in claim 1 above, by electric current (para. 0184); therefore, it would have been obvious to configure the exothermic film such that it extends from the outer peripheries of the PSA layers and the melt-softening layers in plan view in order to avoid heating those two layers.
Claim 12: Yamanaka teaches the pressure sensitive adhesive tape as discussed in claim 1 above, further comprising a pressure sensitive adhesive layer D on a surface side of the melt-softening layer opposite to a surface of the exothermic layer, i.e. the claimed heat-generating element. See para. 0161, para. 0252-0255, and Figure 2, numeral 11.
Claim 13: Yamanaka teaches that the melt-softening layer could also be peelable (i.e. debonded) upon exposure to heat (para. 0178).
heated.
Claim 14: Yamanaka teaches the exothermic film being in the peelable layer (see claims 1 above) and comprises a metal foil and is peelable by application of electric current (see claims 10-11 above); therefore, the heat-generating element (i.e. exothermic layer) is an electrically conducting element that generates heat through electrical conduction and is peeled off when the conducting element generates heat.
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