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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/ 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-6, 9-10 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Jeremic et al (US2010/0068476).
Jeremic sets forth inkjet printing and inkjet ink composition. Jeremic sets forth single phase aqueous curable composition suitable for thermal inkjet printing comprises a mixture of curable materials, water in amounts in the range 10 to 30% of the weight of the compositions, and one or more co-solvents for the curable materials—see abstract.
Jeremic sets forth an ink composition comprising 6.0 wt. % of SR-454 (ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate); 12.0 wt. % of SR285 (tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate); 12 wt. % of SR508 (dipropylene glycol diacrylate); 20.0 wt. % of NAM (acryloyl morpholine); 5.0 wt. % of Irgacure 2959 (photoinitiator); 5.0 wt. % of ethylene glycol mono-butyl ether (co-solvent); 20.0 wt. % of water (deionized); and 10 wt. % of NM-NVAM (n-methyl-n-vinyl acetamide)—see Table 1, example MOSS. Said composition comprises water and an ether co-solvent (EGMBE) and less than 30 wt. % of an oligomer having two ether groups and two acrylate groups, i.e., SR454 and SR508 combined comprises 20 wt. % of the total composition and the free radical photoinitiator is Irgacure 2959—claims 1-2 and 10.
Regarding claim 4: Jeremic sets forth butyl ethyl ether; diethylene glycol ethyl ether, and diethylene glycol butyl ether are suitable co-solvents that are equivalent substitutes for the ethylene glycol monoethyl ether co-solvent—see [0097].
Regarding claim 5 and 12: the above composition comprises NAM and NM-NVAM as cosolvents [0098] and table 1. Additionally, additives such as surfactants (BYK-306) and flow agents (Tego Flow 425 and Tego Glide 410) are found in compositions N1000 in table 1 which also comprise an ether cosolvent, water, and ~20 wt. % of polymerizable oligomers having at least two acrylate groups and two ether groups—see Table 1, example NJ000.
Regarding claim 6 and 12: the co-solvent content, in example MOSS comprises 5.5 wt. %.
Regarding claim 9: All components appear to be soluble in said solvent/co-solvent mixtures.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 7-8, 11 and 13-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Jeremic does not expressly teach the compounds of claims 3 and 11; the additional co-solvents of claims 7, 11-12; the amount of ether co-solvent in claims 8, 12 and 13; the ratio of water to 2-pyrrolidone or pentanol in claim 14. Jeremic does not set forth metal green parts.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANZA L MCCLENDON whose telephone number is (571)272-1074. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Heidi Riviere-Kelley can be reached at 571-270-1831. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SANZA L. McCLENDON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1765
SMc
Prosecution Insights