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 .
Detailed Action
Restriction/Election
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claims 15-20 in the reply filed on 06/17/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/17/26.
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 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishimura et al. (JP2019108308 A, translation provided in IDS).
Nishimura et al. discloses (Fig 1A and 1 B, paragraphs 33 to 37) a solid personal care product having a three-dimensional pattern, comprising: a solid base material (11) on which the three-dimensional pattern (2) is formed; and a stepped portion which is formed as the three-dimensional pattern on the base material (11) and which comprises a plurality of laminated steps (Fig 1 B). Nishimura et al. further discloses a stepped portion comprising layer surfaces which are parallel to a plane direction orthogonal to the height direction and are arranged in layers while changing in height (Figure 1 B).
Nishimura et al. further discloses a three-dimensional pattern comprising a gradual slope formed by the stepped portion (Figure 1B). Nishimura et al. does not disclose a value of the stepped portion in a plane direction orthogonal to the height direction of the laminated step. The technical effect associated with the claimed range is, according to the application, to accurately produce various three-dimensional patterns (paragraph 35 of the application). Nishimura et al. discloses that different materials can be used as the base material (paragraph 33 of Nishimura et al.).
Nishimura et al. do not disclose that (a) each of the steps has a step width in the height direction of 0.001 mm or more and 1 mm or less. (b) a difference in height between a highest portion and a lowest portion of a surface of the base material is 1 mm or more. This is because Nishimura et al. does not mention a value associated with a step width in the height direction, or a value associated with a height difference between an uppermost portion and a lowermost portion of a surface of the base material.
It would have been obvious for a person skilled in the art, starting from Nishimura et al., to choose a step width in the direction of the height of 0.001 mm or more and 1 mm or less in the light of their general knowledge. With regard to feature (b), the associated technical effect is to obtain a three-dimensional pattern rich in three-dimensional effects (paragraph 37 of the application). This technical effect is also described in Nishimura et al. (see paragraph 5). The technical problem is therefore to choose a difference in height between a highest part and a lowest part of a surface of the base material suitable for obtaining a three-dimensional pattern rich in three-dimensional effects. It would therefore be obvious for a person skilled in the art, based on the guidance provided by Nishimura et al., to choose a height difference between a highest and a lowest part of a surface of the base material of 1 mm or more in the light of its general knowledge and come to the claimed invention. It would be obvious to a person skilled in the art, starting from Nishimura et al. which discloses that "the object of the present invention is to provide a patterned solid cosmetic product having a wide variety of beautiful three-dimensional patterns" (paragraph 5 of Nishimura et al.), to choose a width of the stepped portion of 0.001 mm or more and 1 mm or less in a plane direction orthogonal to the height direction of the laminated step in view of his general knowledge. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to choose a material having the claimed hardness in the light of the guidance provided by Nishimura et al. Nishimura et al. discloses that the base material comprises powder (paragraph 33). No technical effect is associated with particle size. It would therefore be obvious to the person skilled in the art, starting from Nishimura et al., to use a powder having an average particle size of 0.01 pm or more and 1 mm or less as the base material in the light of his general knowledge.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SNIGDHA MAEWALL whose telephone number is (571)272-6197. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 8:30 AM to 5PM.
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/SNIGDHA MAEWALL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1612
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