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 1-3 and 5-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hara, JP2001126539, cited herein according to machine translation.
Regarding claims 1, 5-8, 15-16, and 19-20, Hara teaches a transparent membrane for use in a touch panel or display screen (¶ [0041]) comprising a porous skeletal (i.e., featuring interconnected pores) polymeric layer that is coated on one side with a conductive material such as a metal oxide (Abstract, ¶ [0018],). Hara teaches that the pores of the porous polymeric layer may be filled by a “binder resin” (¶ [0023]).
The teachings of Hara differ from the present invention in that Hara does not teach any specific relationship between the index of refraction for the polymeric layer and index of refraction of the filler material or resin (i.e., does not teach that they are within +/- 0.1 of each other). Hara does, however, teach that the binder resin filler may be polyvinyl butyral, which has a refractive index of 1.48, and that the porous polymer film may be polyethylene, which has a refractive index of 1.51, or polytetrafluoroethylene, which has a refractive index of 1.58 (¶ [0018], [0062]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use polyvinyl butyral as the filler material and polyethylene or polytetrafluoroethylene as the porous polymer material when making the product of Hara because Hara teaches each material to be appropriate, and the use of such materials would inherently result in a product in which the refractive index of the porous polymer material and the filler material differed by less than 0.1
Regarding claims 2, 3, Hara teaches that the product may be translucent or transparent (¶ [0020], [0043]). Additionally, Hara teaches that the product may be used in a display screen, which one of ordinary skill in the art would understand to necessitate the product being translucent or transparent, as otherwise one would not be able to view the display.
Regarding claims 9 and 10, Hara teaches that the product may have a thickness of 1-30 microns (¶ [0020]).
Regarding claims 11-14, Hara teaches that the product may include a single layer or multiple layers of polymeric material (¶ [0011]).
Regarding claim 17, Hara teaches that the product may be flexible (¶ [0001], [0037]).
Regarding claim 18, Hara teaches that the product may have a sheet resistance of 140 Ω/sq (¶ [0070]).
Regarding claim 21, Hara teaches that the product may be reflective ([0041]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12-30-2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding the teachings of Hara, Applicant argues that Hara does not teach a product consisting essentially of a filler matching the index of refraction of the polymer matrix because the filler of Hara includes a conductive metal oxide that would not match the refractive index of the polymer matrix. Applicant further argues that Hara never teaches that binder resin alone may be used to fill the pores of the matrix, and instead teaches that when the pores are filled, the filler material must always comprise a conductive compound. This is unpersuasive because Hara does not require the conductive compound to fill the pores of the matrix. Hara instead teaches that the conductive compound may be deposited either into the pores of the matrix or onto one surface of the matrix ([0023]-[0024]), and specifically teaches that the size of the conductive particles may be selected to either be smaller than the size of the pores in the matrix to allow the particles to penetrate the pores, or may be selected to be larger than the size of the pores in the matrix so as to prevent the particles from penetrating into the matrix pores ([0049]).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ian A Rummel whose telephone number is (571)270-5692. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday and alternating Fridays, 8:30-5:00.
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/IAN A RUMMEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785
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