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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 18-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 3/6/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-17 in the reply filed on 3/6/2026 is acknowledged.
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, 6-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Forget et al. [US2018/0099519] in view of Clement [WO2015/140682].
Forget discloses a method for manufacturing a decorative foil, for being used in decorative panels (paragraph 0059),wherein the method comprising: providing a thermoplastic foil (paragraph 0060); coating at least one side of the foil with an inkjet receiver coating (primer layer; paragraph 0060); printing a decorative pattern by jetting one or more inks onto the inkjet receiver coating using an inkjet printer, wherein the ink is a water based pigment containing ink (paragraph 0061, 0073, 0074, 0085), wherein the ink includes a polymeric binder in an amount below 3% weight (binder is optional; paragraph 0073).
Forget discloses a protective layer or topcoat layer applied to the printed substrate (paragraph 0064-65), Forget does not disclose providing an adhesion layer on the decorative pattern.
Clement discloses a method of manufacturing. Clement discloses manufacturing a floor panel with a plurality of layers including decorative print layer covered with a protective wear layer, and suggests delamination as a possible issue (page 2, lines 4-21). Clement discloses a lack of adhesion layer can result in problems with delamination (page 4, lines 1-10). Clement suggest including an adhesion layer between the print layer and the protective wear layer to improve adhesion and prevent delamination (page 5, lines 4-17; page 6 lines 1-4; page 10, line 29-page 11, line 8).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the method of Forget by including an adhesion layer between on the print layer as taught by Clement in order to prevent delamination and improve the quality of the final product.
With respect to claim 6, Forget discloses the inkjet receiver coating comprises at least a polymeric binder (acrylic copolymer; paragraphs 0033-39).
With respect to claim 7, Forget discloses the polymeric binder comprises copolymer vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate (paragraph 0038).
With respect to claim 8, Forget discloses the polymeric binder is between 10-90% which overlaps the claimed range (paragraph 0035).
With respect to claim 9, Forget discloses the inkjet receiver coating including a flocculant (metal salt, paragraph 0052).
With respect to claim 10, Forget discloses the flocculating agent is included in an amount of 1-4% which overlaps the claimed range (paragraph 0051).
With respect to claim 11, Forget discloses the inkjet receiver coating is applied between 0.5 and 30 g/m2 (paragraph 0017).
With respect to claim 12, Forget discloses performing a treatment to increase surface energy of the thermoplastic foil (paragraph 0082).
With respect to claim 13, Forget discloses the polymeric binder comprises copolymer vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate (paragraph 0038), and Clement discloses the adhesion layer includes vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate (page 4, lines 21-35).
With respect to claim 14, Clement discloses the adhesion layer includes vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate (page 4, lines 21-35).
With respect to claim 15, Clement discloses the adhesion layer is provided in a range that overlaps the claimed range (page 5, lines 4-17).
With respect to claim 16, Forget discloses printing is performed at a temperature below 90°C (paragraphs 0102).
With respect to claim 17, Clement discloses the printing ink belongs to a multicolor ink set comprising at least cyan, yellow, black and red (page 4, lines 30-35).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Forget, Clement, and further in view of Torfs [CN105658436]
Forget as modified discloses a method for manufacturing a decorative foil. Applicant is referred to paragraph 5 for a detailed discussion of Forget as modified. Forget discloses an ink but does not explicitly disclose the pigment content.
Torfs discloses a method of manufacturing a flooring panel. Torfs discloses printing with an ink, and discloses pigment concentration of the ink is about 2.2 to 6%.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the method of Forget by using an ink with a pigment concentration as taught by Torfs in order to take advantage of known, suitable and available materials, and to ensure the ink with have visible color.
Claims 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Forget, Clement, and further in view of Niemoller [EP3738782].
Forget as modified discloses a method for manufacturing a decorative foil. Applicant is referred to paragraph 5 for a detailed discussion of Forget as modified. Forget discloses an ink but odes not disclose a humectant.
Niemoller discloses an inkjet printable film and ink jet printed layer. Niemoller discloses the ink comprises a humectant (paragraph 0133).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the method of Forget to include a humectant in the ink as taught by Niemoller in order to prevent drying out of the ink.
With respect to claim 4, Niemoller discloses the humectant is N-mythyl-2-pyrrolidone (paragraph 0133).
With respect to claim 5, Niemoller discloses the humectant is present in an amount that overlaps the claimed range (paragraph 0134).
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Orlando can be reached at 571-270-5038. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL MCNALLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1746
DPM
March 31, 2026