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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-5 & 9-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maki et al. (# JP2022022134).
Maki et al. discloses:
1. An aqueous ink for ink jet comprising a pigment (see Abstract),
wherein the pigment comprises a first pigment that is a quinacridone pigment (see Abstract; page: 8, line: 30-page 9, line: 15) and
a second pigment that is a monoazo pigment free of a condensed ring in a molecule thereof (second pigment is an azo pigment; see Abstract) and
wherein a hue angle of a diluted solution obtained by diluting the aqueous ink with water so that an absorbance at a maximum absorption wavelength in a wavelength range of from 380 nm to 780 nm is 1 is 330° or more to 345° or less (335 ° or more and less than 360 °; see page: 13, line: 1-10).
Given that the Maki et al. reference discloses a range of hue angle 335 ° or more and less than 360 ° that overlap with the presently claimed range (330° or more to 345° or less), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to utilize any of the taught ranges, including those presently claimed, to obtain a suitable composition. It is also noted that according to MPEP 2131.03 and MPEP 2144.05, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to select the portion of the prior art's range which is within the range of applicant's claims because it has been held to be obvious to select a value in a known range by optimization for the best results. As to optimization results, a patent will not be granted based upon the optimization of result effective variables when the optimization is obtained through routine experimentation unless there is a showing of unexpected results which properly rebuts the prima facie case of obviousness. See In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 276,205 USPQ 215, 219 (CCPA 1980). See also In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 1578, 16 USPQ2d 1934, 1936-37 (Fed. Cir. 1990). In addition, a prima facie case of obviousness exists because the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclose by the prior art", see In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976; In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990).
2. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein a content (% by mass) of the second pigment is 0.005 times or more to 0.040 times or less in terms of mass ratio to a content (% by mass) of the first pigment (page: 9, line: 3-25).
4. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein the first pigment comprises a solid solution of a quinacridone pigment (page: 9, line: 3-15).
5. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein the first pigment comprises a solid solution of C.I. Pigment Red 122 and C.I. Pigment Violet 19 (page: 9, line: 3-15).
9. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein a content (% by mass) of the first pigment is 0.05% by mass or more to 14.50% by mass or less with respect to a total mass of the ink (1 to 10%; page: 9, line: 3-10).
10. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein a content (% by mass) of the second pigment is 0.01% by mass or more to 0.50% by mass or less with respect to a total mass of the ink (0.1 to 15%; page: 9, line: 15-20).
11. An ink cartridge comprising: an ink; and an ink storage portion configured to store the ink, wherein the ink comprises the aqueous ink according to claim 1 (see figure: 2; element: 201).
12. An ink jet recording method comprising ejecting an ink from a recording head (element: 203, figure: 2) of an ink jet system to record an image on a recording medium, wherein the ink comprises the aqueous ink according to claim 1 (page: 4, line: 10-30).
Claim(s) 3 & 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maki et al. (# JP2022022134) in view of Okumura et al. (# US 2016/0289470) and Yamazaki et al. (# US 2015/0175825).
Maki et al. discloses all the limitation of the aqueous ink composition except:
3. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein the aqueous ink has a dynamic surface tension γ.sub.10 at a lifetime of 10 milliseconds of 35.0 mN/m or more to 50.0 mN/m or less.
6. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein the second pigment has a hue angle of 85° or more to 115° or less.
7. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein the second pigment is a pigment formed of a compound represented by the following general formula (1):
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in the general formula (1), R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 each independently represent a substituted or unsubstituted benzene ring.
8. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein the second pigment comprises C.I. Pigment Yellow 74.
Okumura et al. teaches to have ink with stable discharge property,
3. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein the aqueous ink has a dynamic surface tension γ.sub.10 at a lifetime of 10 milliseconds of 35.0 mN/m or more to 50.0 mN/m or less (see Abstract; [0014]; [0041]-[0044]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the aqueous ink of Maki et al. by the aforementioned teaching of Okumura et al. in order to have the ink with stable discharge property, which gives high quality printed image.
Yamazaki et al. teaches to have the bleed free high quality printed image (see Table 2),
6. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein the second pigment has a hue angle of 85° or more to 115° or less (80 to 100 degree; [0069]).
8. The aqueous ink according to claim 1, wherein the second pigment comprises C.I. Pigment Yellow 74 ([0069]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the yellow pigment of second ink of Maki et al. by the aforementioned teaching of Yamazaki et al. in order to have the bleed free high quality printed image.
With respect to claim 7, Yamazaki et al. discloses exactly same Pigment Yellow 74 as applicant discloses in their own specification. The formula is constant to the material. Therefore, the pigment discloses by the Yamazaki et al. obviously have pigment formed of a compound represented by the following general formula (1):
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in the general formula (1), R1 and R2 each independently represent a substituted or unsubstituted benzene ring.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(1) Nakano et al. (# US 2017/0321075) discloses a photocurable ink composition includes polymerizable compounds and a photopolymerization initiator. The polymerizable compounds include vinyl ether group-containing (meth)acrylic esters represented by the following Formula (I):
CH2═CR1—COOR2—O—CH═CH—R3 (I)
(wherein, R1 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group; R2 represents a divalent organic residue having 2 to 20 carbon atoms; and R3 represents a hydrogen atom or a monovalent organic residue having 1 to 11 carbon atoms), dipropylene glycol di(meth)acrylate, and monofunctional (meth)acrylate having an aromatic ring skeleton. The ink composition includes a coloring material (see Abstract).
(2) Koitabashi et al. (# US 6387168) discloses an ink comprising a first pigment, a second pigment and a dispersant, both of the pigment being dispersed in an aqueous medium, wherein the first pigment is a self-dispersing pigment having an anionic group or a cationic group, the group being bonded directly or through an atomic group to a surface of the pigment, the second pigment is a pigment dispersible in an aqueous medium with the dispersant, and the dispersant is an ionic polymeric dispersant having a same polarity as that of the group bonded to the surface of the pigment or a nonionic polymeric dispersant (see Abstract).
(3) Kubota et al. (# US 2017/0218216) discloses an ink composition set has at least a solvent-based orange ink composition containing an orange pigment as a pigment and a solvent and a solvent-based red ink composition containing a red pigment as a pigment and a solvent (see Abstract).
(4) Sano et al. (# US 2009/0169834) discloses a five-color ink set for ink jet recording, which can realize good images excellent in lightfastness and waterfastness, as well as particularly in hue. The five-color ink set for ink jet recording comprises a cyan ink composition, a magenta ink composition, a yellow ink composition, a green ink composition and an orange ink composition, wherein the cyan ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Blue 15: 3 or C.I. Pigment Blue 15: 4, the magenta ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Red 122, C.I. Pigment Red 202, C.I. Pigment Red 209 or C.I. Pigment Violet 19, the yellow ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Yellow 213, the green ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Green 7 or C.I. Pigment Green 36, and the orange ink composition comprises C.I. Pigment Orange 64, C.I. Pigment Orange 43 or C.I. Pigment Orange 71 (see Abstract).
(5) Yoshida et al. (# US 2012/0219715) discloses the invention relates to (1) a water dispersion for ink-jet printing including a polymer and a pigment mixture of C.I. Pigment Yellow 74 (A) and an azo compound (B) represented by the following formula (1) which is dispersed with the polymer, wherein a total pigment solid content of the components (A) and (B) in the water dispersion is from 15 to 35% by weight; and (2) a water-based ink for ink jet printing including a polymer and a pigment mixture of C.I. Pigment Yellow 74 (A) and the azo compound (B) which is dispersed with the polymer, wherein a total pigment solid content of the components (A) and (B) in the water-based ink is from 3 to 20% by weight,
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wherein R10 and R20 are independently an aryl group with the proviso that at least one of R10 and R20 has a sulfonic acid group and a sulfonic acid amide group (see Abstract).
(6) Yamamoto et al. (# US 2016/0215152) discloses an aqueous ink for ink jet comprising: a pigment; a water-soluble resin for dispersing the pigment; a water-soluble organic solvent; an acetyleneglycol type surfactant; and a fluorinated surfactant, wherein the acetyleneglycol type surfactant comprises an acetyleneglycol ethylene oxide adduct having an HLB value determined by Griffin's method of 10 or more, wherein the fluorinated surfactant comprises a perfluoroalkyl ethylene oxide adduct having a perfluoroalkyl group with six or less carbon atoms, wherein the water-soluble organic solvent has a dielectric constant at 25° C. of 20.0 or more to 30.0 or less, wherein a content (% by mass) of the water-soluble organic solvent relative to a content (% by mass) of the fluorinated surfactant based on the total mass of the ink is 100 times or more to 200 times or less in terms of mass ratio, and wherein the aqueous ink has a dynamic surface tension γ.sub.10 at a lifetime of 10 ms of 40 mN/m or less and a static surface tension γ of 25 mN/m or more (see Claim 1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANISH S SHAH whose telephone number is (571)272-2152. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am-4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricardo Magallanes can be reached at 571-272-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MANISH S. SHAH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2853
/Manish S Shah/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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