DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takaaki et al. (# JP 2013028658 A).
Takaaki et al. discloses:
1. An inkjet ink (see Abstract; claims 1-5) comprising:
a water-insoluble colorant (pigment; [0039]);
a dispersing agent ([0036]-[0037]);
a fixing resin ([0008]-[0009]); and
water (see Examples; [0030]; [0034]),
the fixing resin comprising a Cl -C4 alkyl (meth)acrylate unit and a styrene sulfonic acid unit ([0051]) as constituent monomer units, and comprising at least a butyl acrylate unit as the Cl -C4 alkyl (meth)acrylate unit ([0019]-[0033]), and
the fixing resin comprising more than 31.5% by mass and less than 46.5% by mass of the butyl acrylate unit and 0.1% by mass or more and less than 3.0% by mass of the styrenesulfonic acid unit (see Examples).
The Examiner draws particular attention to the Applicant that " Takaaki et al. does address a fixing resin (binder resin), it teaches a laundry list of possible binder resin [0008]-[0009]). The format in which Takaaki et al. presents its teaching does not change the fact that it teaches the claimed invention. It is not necessary for Takaaki et al. to present its teaching in an example format citing it in a list is sufficient.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, absent evidence to the contrary, to choose any of the binder resin from the list and any additives from the list, including those presently claimed, and thereby arrive at the claimed invention. However, "applicant must look to the whole reference for what it teaches. Applicant cannot merely rely on the examples and argue that the reference did not teach others." In re Courtright, 377.
2. The inkjet ink according to claim 1, wherein the fixing resin comprises, as the constituent monomer unit, at least one selected from the group consisting of a methyl methacrylate unit, an allyl methacrylate unit, and a methacrylic acid unit ([0019]-[0033]).
3. The inkjet ink according to claim 1, wherein the fixing resin is a resin obtained by polymerization in a presence of a reactive emulsifier (see Examples; [0029]).
4. An ink set comprising: the inkjet ink according to claim 1, and an additional inkjet ink different from the inkjet ink (see Examples).
5. An ink and medium set comprising the inkjet ink according to claim 1 or the ink set according to claim 4; and a printing medium (see Examples).
6. A printed medium comprising a medium and an inkjet ink deposited on the medium, wherein the inkjet ink is the inkjet ink according to claim 1 (see Examples; Table: 1-4).
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishida (# US 2021/0371687).
Ishida discloses:
1. An inkjet ink (see Abstract) comprising:
a water-insoluble colorant (white pigment; see Abstract; [0017]-[0020]);
a dispersing agent ([0027]-[0035]);
a fixing resin ([0045]-[0049]); and
water ([0106]-[0107]),
the fixing resin comprising a Cl -C4 alkyl (meth)acrylate unit and a styrene sulfonic acid unit ([0051]) as constituent monomer units, and comprising at least a butyl acrylate unit as the Cl -C4 alkyl (meth)acrylate unit ([0055]), and
the fixing resin comprising more than 31.5% by mass and less than 46.5% by mass of the butyl acrylate unit and 0.1% by mass or more and less than 3.0% by mass of the styrenesulfonic acid unit (see Examples; Table: 1-6).
The Examiner draws particular attention to the Applicant that " Ishida does address a fixing resin, it teaches a laundry list of possible fixing resin [0045]-[0049]). The format in which Ishida presents its teaching does not change the fact that it teaches the claimed invention. It is not necessary for Ishida to present its teaching in an example format citing it in a list is sufficient.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, absent evidence to the contrary, to choose any of the binder resin from the list and any additives from the list, including those presently claimed, and thereby arrive at the claimed invention. However, "applicant must look to the whole reference for what it teaches. Applicant cannot merely rely on the examples and argue that the reference did not teach others." In re Courtright, 377.
2. The inkjet ink according to claim 1, wherein the fixing resin comprises, as the constituent monomer unit, at least one selected from the group consisting of a methyl methacrylate unit, an allyl methacrylate unit, and a methacrylic acid unit ([0055]-[0056]).
3. The inkjet ink according to claim 1, wherein the fixing resin is a resin obtained by polymerization in a presence of a reactive emulsifier ([0058]).
4. An ink set comprising: the inkjet ink according to claim 1, and an additional inkjet ink different from the inkjet ink (non-white ink; [0159]-[0177]).
5. An ink and medium set comprising the inkjet ink according to claim 1 or the ink set according to claim 4; and a printing medium ([0178]-[0199]).
6. A printed medium comprising a medium and an inkjet ink deposited on the medium, wherein the inkjet ink is the inkjet ink according to claim 1 (see Examples; Table: 1-6).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(1) Fujita et al. (# US 2019/0276693) discloses an ink-jet ink composition for a pressure-adhesion recording target medium. The ink-jet ink composition contains a pigment, a resin, an organic solvent, a surfactant, and water (see Abstract).
(2) Lu et al. (# US 2022/0380586) discloses a methods for forming latexes are provided. In embodiments, such a method comprises adding a first portion of a monomer emulsion comprising water, a monomer, an acidic monomer, a multifunctional monomer, and a first reactive surfactant to a reactive surfactant solution comprising water and a second reactive surfactant to form a reaction mixture, wherein the reactive surfactant solution does not comprise monomers other than the second reactive surfactant; adding a first portion of an initiator solution to the reaction mixture so that monomers undergo polymerization reactions to form resin seeds in the reaction mixture; adding a second portion of the monomer emulsion to the reaction mixture comprising the resin seeds; and adding a second portion of the initiator solution to the reaction mixture to form a latex comprising resin particles (see Abstract).
(3) Ozawa (# US 2021/0403741) discloses an inkjet ink (see Abstract) comprising: a water-insoluble colorant (pigment; see Abstract; [0020]-[0023]); a dispersing agent ([0025]-[0028]);
(4) Watanabe et al. (# US 2017/0166767) discloses an ink composition comprises a color material, water, an organic solvent and polymer particles. The organic solvent includes an organic solvent having a standard boiling point of 150-250 degrees C, and 2.0 %mass or less alkyl polyol having a standard boiling point of 280 degrees C or more. The polymer particles have a core-shell structure including a core polymer and shell polymer. The glass transition temperature of the shell polymer is higher than a glass transition temperature of the core polymer. The ink composition along with an aggregating liquid is used for recording (see Abstract).
(5) Okuda et al. (# US 2011/0262724) discloses a white ink composition comprises: a white pigment; and fixing resins including a vinyl chloride resin or an urethane resin, a fluorene resin, and a polyolefin wax (see Abstract).
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.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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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