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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(a) as being anticipated by KUROKAWA (WO 2022181579 A1, publication date: September 01, 20220)..
Note:: US-2024/0124662 which is the English Equivalent of Kurokawa is being used as a translation. Citations in the rejection below are taken from the US-2024/0124662 publication.
Claim 1: . Kurokawa teaches hollow particles which comprise a shell containing a resin and a hollow portion surrounded by the shell (para. 0048), wherein a volume average particle diameter Dv is 3 µm to 20 µm (para. 0062), which falls within the claimed range of 1.0 µm to 30.0 µm. Kurokawa does not measure the ratio of the apparent specific area and theoretical specific area; however, the hollow particles of Kurokawa are deemed to have met the ratio within the claimed range because the hollow particles of Kurokawa are made by essentially the same process as that of the claimed hollow particles comprising the same monomers within the same proportions. Namely, the process comprises 5 steps: (1) mixture liquid preparation step which comprises a mixture of (a) first polymerizable monomer, oil-soluble polymerization initiator, hydrocarbon solvent, dispersion stabilizer and aqueous medium; (2) Suspension step which comprises suspending the mixture liquid to prepare a suspension in which the droplets of the monomer composition are dispersed in the aqueous medium; (3) the polymerization step which forms second precursor particles; (4) solid-liquid separation step to obtain a solid component containing the second precursor particles ; and (5) a solvent removal step. Compare the description in Kurokawa at paragraphs 0166-0291 to the instant specification, at paragraph 0043 to 0079. The instant specification mentions 4 steps; however, in step (4) which is named the solvent removal step also includes a solid-liquid separation step which is considered a step (4) in Kurokawa. In light of the similar process steps using similar monomers and processing additives, it can be expected that the hollow particles resulted from Kurokawa process would arrive at the same specific surface area ratio value as claimed.
Claims 2-3: The hollow particles of Kurokawa comprises a shell containing, as a resin, a polymer in which at least 50 parts by mass of a crosslinkable monomer units, which are hydrocarbon monomer units, contained in 100 parts of all monomer units (Kurokawa, para. 0175-0185).
Claim 4: The hollow particles of Kurokawa comprises a polymer containing
a crosslinkable monomer unit at a content of more than 50 parts by mass in 100
parts by mass of all monomer units, and contains a difunctional crosslinkable monomer unit derived from a difunctional crosslinkable monomer and a trifunctional or higher-functional crosslinkable monomer unit derived from a trifunctional or higher-functional crosslinkable monomer (para. 0181-0182).
Claim 5: Kurokawa teaches the hollow particles having a void ratio of at least 65% (Page 24, Table 2) which is well within the claimed range 50% or more.
Claim 6: Kurokawa teaches a resin composition comprising the hollow particles as defined by claim 1 above and a matrix resin (para. 0299).
Claim 7: The matrix resin for the resin composition of Kurokawa includes: polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyurethane resin, epoxy resin, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resin, poly(meth)acrylate, polycarbonate, polyamide, polyimide, polyphenylene ether, polyphenylene sulfide, polyester, polytetrafluoroethylene, maleimide resin, bismaleimide triazine resin, liquid crystalline polyester resin, phenolic resin, vinyl ester resin, unsaturated polyester resin, cyanate ester resin, polyetherketoneketone resin and polyetherimide resin (para. 0107-0108).
Claim 8: The resin composition comprises reinforcing fibers (para. 0010 and 0096-0097).
Claim 9: Kurokawa teaches the content of the reinforcing fibers in the resin composition being from 20% to 80% by mass (para. 0115) which is well within the claimed range of 5 parts by mass to 200 parts by mass.
Claim 10: The reinforcing fibers in the resin composition include carbon fibers and glass fibers (para. 0113).
Claim 11: Kurokawa teaches the content of the hollow particles is 5% to 30% by mass with respect to the matrix resin (para. 0300) which is the exact same range as claimed.
Claim 12: Kurokawa teaches a resin molded body obtained from the resin composition defined in claim 6 above (para. 0316).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOA (Holly) LE whose telephone number is (571)272-1511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alicia Chevalier can be reached at 571-272-1490. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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HOA (Holly) LE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1788
/HOA (Holly) LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788