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 § 103
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 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, 2, 4-11 and 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang (US 20190298628 A1, published October 3, 2019) in view of Sakowaki et al. (JP 2017039832 A, published February 23, 2017) (“Sakowaki” hereunder) and Nakata et al. (US 4615348, October 7, 1986) (“Nakata” hereunder).
Chang discloses nail glue compositions comprising beta-methoxyethyl cyanoacrylate, octyl cyanoacrylate and polymethyl methacrylate. See Compositions 1 5. The composition further includes additives including vitamin E (tocopherol or derivatives thereof), keratin amino acid, etc. present in the range of about 0.01 to about 1 wt % of the composition. See [00006].
Sakowaki teaches that 1-1000 ppm (0.001-0.1 wt %) of tocopherol and an anionic polymerization inhibitor is used to stabilize 2-cyanoacrylate-based adhesive composition during storage. See translation, abstract. The reference teaches that this combination provides a safe, non-toxic and non-carcinogenic solution to previously known radical polymerization inhibitors used in the adhesives. See __. The 2-cyanoacrylates include ethyl cyanoacrylate, methoxyethyl cyanoacrylate, octyl cyanoacrylate, etc. See translation, P. 2, 7th full paragraph.
Nakata further teaches a nail adhesive composition comprising at least one of alpha cyanoacrylates (methoxyethyl, ethoxyethyl, n-butyl, etc), ethyl alpha-cyanoacrylate and stabilizing agents such as sulfur dioxide (an anionic stabilizer), and a thickening agent (polymethyl methacrylate) and plasticizers (dioctyl phthalate,etc) and dyes as appropriate. See col. 2, lines 5-25.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing of the present application to modify the teachings of Chang and incorporate to the composition a stabilizing agent such as sulfur dioxide as motivated by Sakowaki and Nakata. The skilled artisan would have been motivated to do so, as 1) all references teach cyanoacrylate adhesives for human use and 2) Sakowaki teaches that 2-cyanoacrylate-based adhesive including the cyanoacrylates can be safely stabilized during storage with a combination of tocopherol and an anionic polymerization inhibitor such as sulfur dioxide. As Nakata specifically provides that sulfur dioxide is among the suitable stabilizing agent for a nail glue composition comprising cyanoacrylates, the skilled artisan would have had a reasonable expectation of successfully combining the references and producing a non-toxic and safe nail glue with enhanced storage stability.
Regarding present claims 1, 2, 5, 6 and 10, it would have been further obvious to use up to 0.1 wt % of alpha-tocopherol to stabilize the nail glue of the combined teachings with a reasonable expectation of success, as Chang teaches using vitamin E in the 2-cyanoacrylate nail glue composition and Sakowaki teaches that 1000 ppm of α-tocopherol or ϒ-tocopherol produces stable adhesive without coloration. See Sakowaki, translation, Examples
Regarding claim 4, Chang teaches that cyanoacrylates are used in 94 wt % based on the total weight of Composition 1.
Further regarding claims 5 and 6, the example compositions in Chang contain vitamin E at 0.01 wt %, but the reference further teaches that the vitamin additive can be used up to 1 wt % of the nail glue composition. See [0006], reference claim 13.
Regarding claims 7 -9, Composition 1 contains 5.97wt % of polymethyl methacrylate.
Regarding claim 11, although Chang fails to teach using a plasticizer, Nakata teaches that plasticizers such as dioctyl phthalate or dibutyl phthalate are used in nail glue compositions. See col. 2, lines 18 – 25. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Chang and incorporate a plasticizer into the nail glue composition to make the resulting artificial nail more pliable.
Regarding claims 14-16, Nakata teaches that Red pigments are added to the cyanoacrylates make color pink. See Table 1. Since Chang teaches that additives are generally used in the range of about 0.01 to about 1 wt %, and Nakata teaches that the red colorants are used to make the composition pink, optimization of the concentration to make the composition to the desired level of pink (e.g., close to natural nail color) would have only taken one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claims 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang, Sakowaki and Nakata as applied to claims 1, 2, 4-9, 11 and 14-17 as above, and further in view of Battisti et al. (US 20160213593 A1, published on July 28, 2016) (” Battisti” hereunder).
Although Chang generally provides using a plasticizer, the reference fails to disclose the specific plasticizer of the present claims.
Battisti teaches a flexible nail glue composition comprising ethyl cyanoacrylate adhesive, a thickener (polymethyl methacrylate), and triacetin as a plasticizer, used in the range of 10-15 wt %. See Formulation 1; [0014]. The reference teaches the formulation produces artificial nails that are durable as well as flexible and pliable enough to bend. See [0013].
Given the teachings of Chang to use a plasticizer in the nail glue, the skilled artisan would have been obviously motivated to look to prior art such as Battisti for specific type of plasticizer suitable in the formulation. Since Battisti teaches a plasticizer suitable to make a flexible artificial nail upon adhesion on fingernails, the skilled artisan would have been obviously motivated to use the disclosed plasticizer. As both references disclose nail glue compositions comprising a cyanoacrylate adhesive and polymethyl methacrylate thickener, the skilled artisan would have had a reasonable expectation of successfully combining the teachings of the references and make an enhanced nail glue composition which produces durable but flexible and bendable artificial nails.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Claims 1, 2, 4-16 are rejected.
Claim 3 is objected to
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Papay (US 5866106 A, published on February 2, 1999) teaches a vitamin-enriched nail adhesive comprising at least one of vitamins in the amount of 0.0001-0.1 %.
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/GINA C JUSTICE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1617
