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
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.
Claims 1-7, 10, 12-14 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kamiya [JPH115960, machine translation provided].
Kamiya discloses a method for manufacturing an eco-friendly adhesive resin, comprising the steps of polymerizing a hydrophilic monomer and a hydrophobic monomer to produce an amphiphilic polymer (Component A is manufactured by polymerizing a hydrophilic monomer with a hydrophobic monomer; page 5); and adding a hydrophobic monomer to the amphiphilic polymer and reacting them to form a colloidal adhesive resin comprising a core comprising the hydrophobic monomer and a shell comprising the amphiphilic polymer (emulsion polymerization of Component B in the presence of Component A, page 6-8; the resulting composition comprises Component A located on the outside of and the Component B located on the inside; page 9).
With respect to claim 2, Kamiya discloses a weight ratio of the hydrophilic monomer to the hydrophobic monomer ranges from 1:1 to 1:15 (pages 4-5, sections 1-3 and 1-4).
With respect to claim 3, Kamiya discloses the hydrophilic monomer comprises at least one hydrophilic monomer having one or more functional groups selected from the group consisting of carboxylic, hydroxyl, amine, and ether groups (page 4; section 1-4).
With respect to claim 4, Kamiya discloses the hydrophobic monomers independently comprise one or more hydrophobic monomers selected from the group consisting of vinyl ester-based monomers and alkyl (meth)acrylate-based monomers (page 5, section 1-5; page 7, section 2-3).
With respect to claim 5, Kamiya discloses in the step (ii), 20 or less parts by weight of a hydrophilic monomer are further added per 100 parts by weight of the hydrophobic monomer added to the amphiphilic polymer (page 8, section 3-1).
With respect to claim 6, Kamiya discloses the total weight of the monomers used in the step (ii) ranges from 200 to 500 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the monomers used in step (i) (page 8 , section 3-1; page 11, Examples).
With respect to claim 7, Kamiya discloses the reactions in the steps (i) and (ii) are carried out in a solvent (page 5-6, section 1-5).
With respect to claim 10, Kamiya discloses acetone as a solvent (pages 5-6, section 1-5), and the instant specification discloses acetone ahs a boiling point of 56°C.
With respect to claim 12, Kamiya discloses the reactions in the steps (i) and (ii) are performed using a polymerization initiator (page 5, section 1-5; page 8).
With respect to claim 13, Kamiya discloses the method of claim 1 as discussed above which results the claimed eco-friendly adhesive resin, therefore Kamiya discloses the same eco-friendly adhesive resin.
With respect to claim 14, Kamiya discloses including a curing agent (crosslinking agent; page 9, section 3-3).
With respect to claim 18, Kamiya discloses an eco-friendly adhesive layer (Kamiya discloses forming a layer of adhesive from the resin, page 1-2).
With respect to claim 19, Kamiya discloses a thickness of the adhesive layer as 1µm to 1mm which includes the claimed thickness range (page 9, section 4-2).
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 8-9 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kamiya in view of Shimizu [WO2017/043241, machine translation provided].
Kamiya discloses a method for manufacturing an eco-friendly adhesive resin. Applicant is referred to paragraph 3 for a detailed discussion of Kamiya.
With respect to claims 8 and 9, Kamiya discloses the reactions are carried out in a solvent (page 5-6, section 1-5). Kamiya does not explicitly discloses the amount of the solvent used. Shimizu discloses a method of making a resin by reacting hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers in the presence of a solvent. Shimizu discloses polymerization solvent is used as necessary (“Polymerization solvent”), and is present to result in a polymerization rate of 50 to 90% of the monomer (“Production conditions for (meth)acrylic polymer”), and the solvent is usually 30 to 90% by mass (“Organic Solvent”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the method of Kamiya to include the solvent in the claimed amount as taught by Shimizu in order to take advantage of known and suitable solvent amounts and to ensure a reaction rate is within 50 to 90%.
With respect to claim 15, Kamiya discloses a crosslinking agent but does not disclose the amount. Shimizu discloses the adhesive includes a curing agent (crosslinking agent) which include isocyanate compound, an epoxy compound, and metal chelate compound (which are also disclosed as curing agents in the instant specification). Shimizu discloses including the agent in an amount from 0.01 to 7 parts by mass per 100 parts of (meth)acrylic polymer (“Crosslinking agent”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the method of Kamiya by including the curing agent of Shimizu in the claimed amount as taught by Shimizu in order to form a crosslinking network and produce an adhesive layer excellent in heat resistance.
With respect to claims 16 and 17, Kamiya discloses a solvent, and Shimizu discloses including an organic solvent as an additive to the adhesive (“Adhesive composition”), wherein the organic solvent is included an amount usually 30 to 90% by mass (“Organic solvent”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the composition of Kamiya to include an organic solvent as taught by Shimizu in order to adjust coatability.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kamiya in view of Mitsuya [JP2015-074734, machine translation provided].
Kamiya discloses a method for manufacturing an eco-friendly adhesive resin. Kamiya discloses including a solvent but fails to disclose the solvent as a mixture of ethyl acetate and one more co-solvents.
Mitsuya discloses a method of manufacturing an adhesive. Mitsuya discloses polymerizing monomers in the presence of a solvent and suggest the solvent used is a mixed solvent of ethyl acetate and a co-solvent are preferably used for solubility, drying property and price. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the method of Kamiya by using a mixture of solvents as taught by Mitsuya in consideration of the solubility, drying properties, and price of the solvent.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL MCNALLY whose telephone number is (571)272-2685. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/DANIEL MCNALLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1746
DPM
December 20, 2025