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 1-7 and 16 in the reply filed on 04/27/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 8-15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 04/27/2026.
Claim Objections
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 6, line 1, “wherein the first carbon chain” should read “wherein the compound having the first carbon chain”.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wakizaka et al. (US 2011/0049435 A1).
Regarding Claims 1-3, Wakizaka discloses an optical film including a transparent support (i.e. substrate) and at least one antistatic layer (Abstract). The antistatic layer comprises Compound (2) (para 0111), which is represented by formula (2):
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wherein R1 may be a substituted alkyl group (i.e. first carbon chain) (paras 0165-0166), and the substituent may be fluorine, alkoxy, or amino group(s) (para 0167, 0115-0116) (i.e. electron-donating group).
In light of the overlap between the claimed antistatic film and that disclosed by Wakizaka, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use antistatic film that is both disclosed by Wakizaka and is encompassed within the scope of the present claims, and thereby arrive at the claimed invention.
The optical film may be used on the outermost surface of a display device (para 0002) (i.e. as a cover plate).
Regarding Claim 4, Wakizaka discloses all the limitations of the present invention according to Claim 2 above. Wakizaka further discloses the antistatic layer comprises Compound (1) in combination with Compound (2) (para 0233). Compound (1) is represented by formula (1):
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(para 0112)
wherein L may be a single bond (para 0159) and Y may be an alkyl group (i.e. second carbon chain) (para 0113) substituted with fluorine (para 0126). Wakizaka specifically discloses Y may be perfluorobutyl (i.e. carbon chain wherein each carbon carries fluorine) (para 0127).
Regarding Claim 5, Wakizaka discloses all the limitations of the present invention according to Claim 4 above, including that Y of Compound (1) may be perfluorobutyl (i.e. a C4 carbon chain) (para 0127). Wakizaka further discloses R1 of Compound (2) is alkyl group having carbon number of 1-60 (para 0168). Therefore, the carbon chains Y and R1 may both be C4 carbon chains having the same length.
Regarding Claim 6, Wakizaka discloses all the limitations of the present invention according to Claim 1 above. Wakizaka further discloses the antistatic layer is formed using a coating solution where all components are mixed into one solution (para 0363). Therefore, the Compound (2) having the first carbon chain as claimed would be uniformly distributed in the antistatic film.
Regarding Claim 7, Wakizaka discloses all the limitations of the present invention according to Claim 1 above. Wakizaka further discloses production samples wherein the antistatic film is formed on the transparent support to produce the optical film (para 0374) and the optical film samples are evaluated including applying ink to the back side of the sample (para 0380) (i.e. applying an ink layer to the side of the substrate opposite to the antistatic film).
Regarding Claim 16, Wakizaka discloses an optical film including a transparent support (i.e. substrate) and at least one antistatic layer (Abstract). The antistatic layer comprises Compound (2) (para 0111), which is represented by formula (2):
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Wherein R1 may be a substituted alkyl group (i.e. first carbon chain) (para 0166), and the substituent may be fluorine, alkoxy, or amino group(s) (para 0167, 0115-0116) (i.e. electron-donating group).
In light of the overlap between the claimed antistatic film and that disclosed by Wakizaka, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use antistatic film that is both disclosed by Wakizaka and is encompassed within the scope of the present claims, and thereby arrive at the claimed invention.
The optical film may be used on the outermost surface of a display device (para 0002) (i.e. as a cover plate). Wakizaka further discloses laminating the optical film to a polarizing plate of a liquid crystal display device, so that the optical film lies on the viewing side (para 0410) (i.e. the light-emitting side). The optical film is laminated to the polarizing plate by adhering the polarizing plate to the surface of the transparent support opposite the side having the thin-film layer (para 0342) (i.e. the antistatic film is located on the side of the substrate away from the display panel).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BETHANY M MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-2109. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:00.
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/BETHANY M MILLER/ Examiner, Art Unit 1787
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