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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01 June 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1 and 5-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuroda et al. (WO 2020/100869; translation previously attached) in view of Yasui et al. (US 2019/0258101).
Regarding claim 1, Kuroda discloses an optical laminate (see figure 3, for instance), comprising: a polarizing plate (102) including a polarizing film (11) having a first main surface (bottom surface of 11) and a second main surface (top surface of 11) opposed to each other; a first pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (50) arranged on a first main surface side of the polarizing film (11); a second pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (40) arranged on a second main surface side of the polarizing film (11), a support (12) directly bonded to the polarizing plate (11) via the second pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (40), wherein the support has a thickness of from 10 um to 80 µm (see page 14 of previously submitted translation: “The thickness of the transparent protective film can be appropriately determined, but generally, from the viewpoint of workability such as strength and handleability, thin layer property, etc., it is preferably about 1 to 500 μm, and about 1 to 300 μm. More preferably, it is more preferably about 5 to 100 μm.”), and wherein the polarizing film includes a polyvinyl alcohol-based film containing iodine and contains a compound including one of a nitroxy radical or a nitroxide group (see Abstract of previously submitted translation). However, Kuroda does not expressly discloses a third pressure-sensitive adhesive layer directly arranged on the support at the opposite side with respect to the polarizing plate, wherein the second pressure-sensitive adhesive layer has a haze of 66% or more.
Yasui discloses an optical laminate (see figure 2, for instance), comprising a polarizing plate (50) including a polarizing film (51), comprising a third pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (55) directly arranged on the support (54a) at the opposite side with respect to the polarizing plate (51), wherein the second pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (53) has a haze of 66% or more ([0073], “As an example, haze values of light diffusion layers 53 and 63 are 80%.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the third PSA and haze values of the second PSA as per the structure of Yasui in the device of Kuroda. The motivation for doing so would have been to enable the laminate to be adhered to an upper display element while preventing generation of moire due to a pattern shape of the pixel array structure, as taught by Yasui ([0073]).
Regarding claim 5, Kuroda in view of Yasui discloses the optical laminate according to claim 1, wherein the polarizing film (11) contains the compound including one of a nitroxy radical or a nitroxide group in a content of 20 wt% or less (see Abstract).
Regarding claim 6, Kuroda in view of Yasui discloses the optical laminate according to claim 1, wherein the polarizing film (11) contains the iodine in a content of 1 wt% or more and 15 wt% or less (see paragraph 4, page 17 of translation).
Regarding claim 7, Kuroda in view of Yasui discloses the optical laminate according to claim 1, wherein the first pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (50) is formed of a pressure-sensitive adhesive composition containing a (meth)acrylic polymer and a cross-linking agent (page 12, paragraph 6 of translation), wherein the cross-linking agent contains an isocyanate-based cross-linking agent, and wherein a content of the isocyanate-based cross-linking agent is less than 1 part by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the (meth)acrylic polymer (page 12, paragraph 6 of translation).
Regarding claim 8, Kuroda in view of Yasui discloses the optical laminate according to claim 7, wherein the isocyanate-based cross-linking agent is a non-aromatic system (page 12, paragraph 6 of translation).
Regarding claim 9, Kuroda in view of Yasui discloses a display apparatus, and Yasui further discloses in which a plurality of display panels (200, 100) each including a liquid crystal cell (13, 23) are arranged so as to overlap each other, and which is configured to display an image on each of the display panels, the display apparatus comprising: a first display panel (200); a second display panel (100) arranged at a position closer to an observer as compared to the first display panel; and the optical laminate (50, 60) of claim 1 arranged between the first display panel (200) and the second display panel (100), wherein the first pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (Kuroda 50) of the optical laminate is bonded to the first display panel (Yasui 100), and wherein the third pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (Yasui 55) of the optical laminate is bonded to the second display panel (100).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANAEL R BRIGGS whose telephone number is (571)272-8992. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/NATHANAEL R BRIGGS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871 9/28/2026
