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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hwang (US 2014/0043679 A1) in view of Arake (JP2020172083 A).
Regarding claim 1 Hwang teaches a method for producing a three-dimensional object (abstract), comprising: a preparing step of preparing a treated three-dimensional object formed by three-dimensional forming using an electron beam curable ink [0056], but Hwang does not explicitly disclose an aging step of performing irradiation treatment in which the treated three-dimensional object is irradiated with light including wavelengths of less than 430 nm and heat treatment in which heat is applied to the treated three-dimensional object, to decrease color tone of a discolored portion in the treated three-dimensional object. However, analogous art, Arake, discloses an aging step of performing irradiation treatment in which the treated three-dimensional object is irradiated with light including wavelengths of less than 430 nm (pg. 3 paragraph 6) and heat treatment in which heat is applied to the treated three-dimensional object, to decrease color tone of a discolored portion in the treated three-dimensional object (pg. 8 paragraph 4). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated an aging step of performing irradiation treatment in which the treated three-dimensional object is irradiated with light including wavelengths of less than 430 nm and heat treatment in which heat is applied to the treated three-dimensional object, to decrease color tone of a discolored portion in the treated three-dimensional object as taught by Arake into the method taught by Hwang for the benefit of preventing yellowing.
Regarding claim 2, Arake teaches wherein the irradiation treatment and the heat treatment are performed in parallel in the aging step (pg. 3 paragraph 4).
Regarding claim 4, Arake teaches wherein the heat treatment applies a heat of 10°C or more and 100°C or less (pg. 11 paragraph 8).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hwang (US 2014/0043679 A1) in view of Arake (JP2020172083 A), as applied to claim 1, and further in view of Mitzutani (US 2015/0291819 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Arake doesn’t explicitly teach wherein the electron beam curable ink comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a phosphine oxide-based photopolymerization initiator, an alkylphenone-based photopolymerization initiator, a thioxanthone-based photopolymerization initiator, an acyl phosphine oxide-based photopolymerization initiator, and a titanocene-based photopolymerization initiator as a photopolymerization initiator. However, analogous art Mizutani, discloses using acylphosphine oxide photoinitiator (abstract) since it is conventionally known [0007]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated acylphosphine oxide photoinitiator as taught by Mitzutani into the method taught by Hwang since it is conventionally well known. "A person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known option within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely the product not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense." KSR int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727,82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARAH N TAUFIQ whose telephone number is (571)272-6765. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 8:00 am-4:30 pm.
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/FARAH TAUFIQ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754
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