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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP2023-111384, filed on 7/6/2023.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: In Table 1, Example 3, the Amorphous polyester resin B is labeled “8-1” instead of “B-1”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keiichi (WO 2021-080817) in view of Zhang (Boi-based polyesters: Recent progress and future prospects).
Keiichi teaches a toner particle including a binder resin including an amorphous polyester resin and a crystalline polyester resin (Abstract). The amorphous polyester resin (representative of resin B of the instant application) contains terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol monomers, which may be derived from recycled polyethylene terephthalate to make the toner more environmentally friendly ([0010],[0080]). The content of the terephthalic acid in the resin is at least 30 mole% ([0011]). The amorphous polyester resin may contain a second acid monomer unit in addition to the terephthalic acid ([0013]). Examples of the second monomer include isophthalic acid ([0016] line 7), and isophthalic acid is used as a second monomer in exemplary amorphous polyester resin 3 (Table 1). The content of the amorphous polyester resin in the toner particle is from 48% by mass to 72% by mass ([0023]).
The crystalline polyester resin (representative of resin C of the instant application) comprises a polyhydric alcohol and a polycarboxylic acid ([0033]), wherein the polycarboxylic acid may be 1,10-decane dicarboxylic acid or 1,12-dodecane dicarboxylic acid ([0035]). The content of the crystalline polyester resin in the toner particle is from 10% by mass to 30% by mass ([0038]). The total content of the amorphous resin and the crystalline resin is therefore at least 58% by mass of the toner particle. The toner may have a core shell structure ([0071] line 1-2). The core of the toner particle contains the crystalline polyester resin ([0071] line 2-4).
The toner may be accommodated in a toner cartridge ([0076]). Keiichi teaches an image forming apparatus and image forming method as recited in claims 6 and 7 ([0001]).
Keiichi is silent regarding the crystalline polyester resin being biomass-derived and having a linear aliphatic alcohol with 2 to 4 carbon atoms. Zhang discloses the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly polymer materials (Abstract). “As the global energy, resources and environment are faced with huge challenges, the conventional petroleum-based polymer industry must address the pressing demand for a massive amount of energy and resources, which is a tough test. In recent years, the synthesis of polymers from renewable resources has become a major concern of academia, because it provides a feasible solution for the fossil fuel depletion and the growing environmental threat.” (Introduction, paragraph 1). The development of bio-based monomers delivers sustainability solutions for conventional petroleum-based polyesters (Introduction, paragraph 3). Zhang teaches that biomass fermentation technologies have resulted in a wide variety of bio-based aliphatic monomers (2.1 Bio-based aliphatic monomers, paragraph 1). Some of the conventional bio-based monomers which have the same structure as petroleum-based monomers and have been industrialized include ethylene glycol, propanediol, butanediol, sebacic acid, and dodecanedioic acid (2.1 Bio-based aliphatic polyesters, paragraph 2). With advancements in monomer fermentation and purification, these monomers will continue becoming more abundant with improved purity and production cost. Table 2 shows known bio-based aliphatic binary copolyesters, including PESe, comprising sebacic acid and ethylene glycol, PEDo, comprising dodecanedioic acid and ethylene glycol, PBDo, comprising dodecanedioic acid and butanediol, and PPDo, comprising dodecanedioic acid and propanediol. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the crystalline polyester resin of Keiichi to have included bio-based monomers such as the ones listed above, as taught by Zhang, in order to increase the sustainability of the toner.
Conclusion
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/J.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 08/25/2026
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