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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 5 recites, “The method of claim 1, wherein the liquid coating process comprises evaporating a solvent from each of the dielectric layers” (emphasis added), however, given that claim 1 only recites a singular dielectric layer, the claimed “dielectric layers” (plural) limitation lacks clear antecedent basis.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 6 recites, “The method of claim 1, wherein the liquid coating process comprises depositing the dielectric layers at a rate of from about 0.1 to about 1000 m/min” (emphasis added), however, given that claim 1 only recites a singular dielectric layer, the claimed “dielectric layers” (plural) limitation lacks clear antecedent basis.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 7 recites, “wherein the at least one dielectric layer” (emphasis added) on line 1, however, given that claim 1, from which claim 7 depends, recites, “a dielectric layer” and not “at least one dielectric layer” as in claim 7, “the at least one dielectric layer” limitation of claim 7 lacks clear antecedent basis.
Claims 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 18 recites, “The method of claim 16, wherein the wet film includes at least one of (i) a photo-initiator, (ii) an oxygen inhibition mitigation composition, (iii) a leveling agent, and (iv) a defoamer” on lines 1-3, however, it is unclear whether the claim merely requires one of (i), (ii), (iii), or (iv); or whether the claim requires at least one of each of (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv). It is also noted that the photo-initiator, oxygen inhibition mitigation composition, and/or leveling agent may read upon one another based upon the broad definitions and/or examples of these components as recited in the specification, and hence, one having ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the claimed invention and could not interpret the metes and bounds of the claim so as to understand how to avoid infringement.
It is further noted that dependent claims 19 and 20 do not remedy the above given that (as discussed in the parent application, 15/194298, see Paragraph 9 of the Office Action dated 9/21/2018) the at least one oligomer may read upon the claimed photo-initiator of instant claim 19; and the at least one leveling agent that includes a polyacrylate of instant claim 20 may read upon the defoamer that includes a silicone free organic polymer given that the polyacrylate may be a silicone free liquid organic polymer that also provides defoaming properties. Additionally, in claim 20, “the at least one leveling agent” (emphasis added) and “the at least one defoamer” (emphasis added) lack clear antecedent basis.
Claims 19-20 are further rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 19 recites the limitation "The article of claim 18" (emphasis added) in line 1, however, given that claim 18 is directed to a method, particularly “The method of claim 16”, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Dependent claim 20 does not remedy the above and hence is indefinite for the same reasons.
Note: For examination purposes with respect to prior art, the Examiner has assumed that claim 19 is meant to recite, “The method of claim 18,” and similarly claim 20 is meant to recite, “The method of claim 19”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 5, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fuller (US2003/0072961A1). Fuller discloses a “color effect material is composed of a plurality of encapsulated substrate platelets (i.e., flakes) in which each platelet is encapsulated with a first layer which acts as a reflector to light directed thereon, a visibly transparent second organic layer encapsulating the first layer in which the second layer provides an optically variable reflection of light impinging thereon and a third layer encapsulating the second layer and being selectively transparent to light directed thereon,” (Abstract); wherein the first and third layers can be formed of the same or different such as precious metals like silver as utilized in the examples (Paragraph 0010, Examples), and the “second encapsulating layer can be any organic material such as polymer”, and most preferably is a layer of parylene or polydivinylbenzene (i.e., a dielectric layer; Paragraphs 0015 and 0022). Fuller discloses that the “[o]rganic polymer layers can be deposited by aqueous polymerization/precipitation, solvent polymerization/deposition or chemical vapor deposition” (Paragraph 0015); while the inorganic metal layers are preferably deposited by electroless deposition although an encapsulating layer of a metal can also be deposited onto any of the substrates by chemical vapor deposition (Paragraph 0016). Fuller discloses that all the encapsulating layers of the color effect material (CEM) or pigment “are altogether notable for a uniform, homogeneous, film-like structure that results from the manner of preparation” (Paragraph 0026), wherein the coated platelet-like substrates are produced by individually coating the first, second, and third encapsulating layer, and wherein “the individual coating steps are each effected by sputter deposition, electroless deposition, complex coacervation, vapor deposition or hydrolysis/condensation of suitable starting compounds in the presence of the substrate particles to be coated” (Paragraph 0027). Fuller discloses that in general, the color effect pigment can be produced by depositing a highly reflective first metal layer by electroless deposition onto a platelet material such as mica (i.e., “depositing on a substrate a first metallic layer); followed by an aqueous deposition process (i.e., a liquid coating process) to deposit an organic polymer layer on the metal coated mica or other substrate (i.e., “depositing on the first metallic layer a dielectric layer…wherein the dielectric layer is deposited using a liquid coating process”), and then a second electroless deposition step to deposit a metal layer on the organic material encapsulated metal coated platelet (i.e., “depositing on the dielectric layer a second metallic layer) to produce a final particulate product or pigment flake that exhibits optical color effects as a function of viewing angle (Paragraph 0028), with working examples specifically having a coating structure of 50nm silver/polymer/4 nm silver (Examples), and given that both silver layers would have some degree of reflectivity and thus both a “reflector layer”, Fuller anticipates instant claims 1-2 and 13.
With respect to instant claim 5, given that Fuller specifically discloses an example wherein polydivinylbenzene encapsulated silver coated flakes are filtered, rinsed with ethanol, and then dried at 120°C after depositing the polydivinylbenzene layer via an aqueous deposition process (Paragraph 0039), Fuller anticipates instant claim 5.
Claims 1-2, 5, 8-9, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shelnut (USPN 6,440,642 B2). Shelnut discloses a dielectric composition having a low volatile organic compound (VOC) content, wherein the low VOC dielectric composition is suitable for use in circuit board manufacture as a circuitry dielectric layer or dielectric innerlayers for multilayer printed boards in a sequential build process (Entire document, particularly Abstract, Col. 1, lines 3-36; Col. 14, lines 26-40). Shelnut discloses that the low VOC dielectric composition may be applied to a substrate having a first circuit layer or pattern of conductive material such as copper disposed thereon, and then cured either by thermal curing or photo-curing to produce a dielectric layer that is then plated with a conduct metal by any known method; wherein the low VOC dielectric composition may be applied “using conventional techniques including screen coating (or screen printing), curtain coating, roller coating, slot coating, spin coating, flood coating, electrostatic spray, spray coating, dip coating and as a dry film” (as in instant claims 1, 8-9, and 15; Col. 13, line 4-Col. 14, line 58), with working examples specifically coated by a liquid coating process onto a pre-formed circuit board such that each resulting coating was from 0.3 to 5.0 mil thick, and then baked to dry and cure the dielectric coating prior to copper plating (as in instant claims 5 and 15-16; Examples). Hence, Shelnut anticipates instant claims 1, 5, 8-9, and 15-16.
With respect to instant claim 2, given that the copper circuitry and/or copper plating may be considered either a reflector layer or an absorber layer, Shelnut anticipates instant claim 2.
With respect to instant claims 18-20, Shelnut discloses that the composition may include monomers and oligomers as crosslinkable material, such as the acrylate monomers and compounds recited in Cols. 4-6, a crosslinker, a catalyst such as a photoacid generator (i.e., a photoinitiator) and/or thermal acid generator wherein light such as UV may be used to accelerate a reaction, as well as various additives such as leveling agents and antifoam agents (Entire document, particularly Col. 3, line 47-Col. 6, line 17; Col. 6, lines 32-46; Cols. 8-10; Col. 12, lines 6-49); and given that Shelnut specifically discloses working examples comprising an acrylate antifoam/leveling agent (MODAFLOW™ from Monsanto, i.e., a polyacrylate leveling agent and/or a silicone free polymer defoamer; Examples), reading upon the clamed “leveling agent” and/or “defoamer” as in instant claims 18 and 20, Shelnut anticipates instant claims 18-20 given the lack of clarity thereof as discussed in detail above and that the photoinitiator and oxygen inhibition mitigation composition as further detailed in instant claims 19-20 are alternative components to the leveling agent and defoamer of instant claim 18, which are disclosed by Shelnut, and are not positively recited in claims 19-20 as being present in the claimed wet film.
Claims 1-2, 6, 10, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Endle (US2008/0160185A1). Endle discloses a method of forming a color shifting film (10, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70) by applying onto a support (15), a reflective stack (12) comprising an at least partially transparent spacer layer (17) comprising a substituted acrylamide polymer (as a dielectric layer) disposed between a partially reflective first metal layer (16) and a reflective second metal layer (18), as shown in the Figs. 1-6; wherein the (meth)acrylamide spacer layer has a thickness sufficient to produce an interference color (Abstract, Paragraphs 0008-0010, 0023) and “may be formed using any suitable technique, e.g., evaporation, plasma deposition, solution coating, extrusion coating, gravure coating, or spray coating” (i.e., “a liquid coating process” as in instant claim 1; Paragraph 0038). Endle discloses that suitable metals for the reflective layers include the metals and metal alloys as recited in Paragraph 0037, and that the partially reflective layer (16) and the reflective layer (18) can be formed by deposition on the support or spacer layer (or vice-versa), using techniques employed in the film metallization art such as vacuum metallization, sputter coating, and evaporation (thus “using a physical vapor deposition process” as in instant claim 10), as well as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and plasma enhanced CVD (Paragraph 0037); and given that Endle specifically discloses an example (Example 1) wherein a polyester web is coated with a chromium layer by DC sputtering to provide a layer with a thickness of approximately 4.7 nm (“depositing on a substrate a first metallic layer” as in instant claim 1 and wherein the first metallic layer is a “reflector layer” as in instant claim 2); followed by application of a polymer spacer layer formed from a monomer solution that is atomized, flash evaporated, condensed on the chromium layer (thus a liquid when applied to the chromium layer forming a “wet” layer thereon) at a line speed of about 21.3 m/min (as in instant claim 6), and then cured by ultraviolet light to provide a polymer layer with a thickness of about 132 nm (“depositing on the first metallic layer a dielectric layer…wherein the dielectric layer is deposited using a liquid coating process” as in instant claim 1); upon which an aluminum layer is deposited by DC sputtering (thus “the first metallic layer and the second metallic layer are deposited using a physical vapor deposition process” as in instant claim 10) to provide a layer with a thickness of approximately 70 nm (“depositing on the dielectric layer a second metallic layer” as in instant claim 1 and wherein the second metallic layer is an absorber layer as in instant claim 2) thereby forming an interference film (“foil” as in instant claim 14), the Examiner takes the position that Endle discloses the claimed invention with sufficient specificity to anticipate instant claims 1-2, 6, 10, and 14 (Entire document, particularly as noted above and Claims 18-20).
Claims 1-2, 5, 10, and 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yatabe (USPN 4,590,118). Yatabe discloses a “selectively light transmission sheet composed of two selectively light transmitting structures, one comprising a single or separate two metal layers (A) and a single or separate two dielectric layers (B), another comprising an organic polymer layer (C) containing a near infrared ray absorbent” (Abstract), with a working example specifically comprising a selective light transmission sheet (“foil” as in instant claim 14) having a laminate structure of (C)/substrate/(A)/(B)/(A) comprising a first selectively light transmitting structure of two thin metal layers (A) of silver/copper alloy with one transparent dielectric layer (B) of polystyrene sandwiched between the two thin metal layers provided on one side of biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate substrate and a thin layer of polystyrene (C) provided on the other side of the substrate, wherein the first selectively light transmitting (A)/(B)/(A) structure is formed by depositing a first silver/copper alloy layer of 60 Å (a reflector layer) on the substrate by DC magnetron sputtering, depositing the transparent dielectric layer (B) of polystyrene by coating a solution of 2wt% polystyrene in a mixed solvent by a bar-coater (“depositing a liquid coating composition on the first metallic layer to form a wet film having a wet film thickness” as in instant claim 15) and drying (“evaporating a solvent” as in instant claim 5) to form the dielectric layer (B) having a thickness of 700 Å (i.e., 70 nm, and thus “further comprising evaporating a solvent in the wet film and curing to form a self-leveled dielectric having a dry film thickness” as in instant claim 16 “wherein the dry film thickness ranges from about 50 nm to about 700 nm” as in instant claim 17) on the first silver/copper alloy layer, and then depositing a second silver/copper alloy layer of 60 Å (a reflector layer) onto the dielectric layer (B) by DC magnetron sputtering (Example 3, thus both metallic layers are reflector layers as in instant claim 2 deposited by a physical vapor deposition process as in instant claim 10); thereby anticipating instant claims 1-2, 5, 10, and 14-17.
Claims 1-2, 5-6, 8-16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schuhmacher (USPN 6,531,221). Schuhmacher discloses a platelet-shaped multilayer cholesteric pigment (“pigment flake” as in instant claim 13) comprising a layer sequence of A/B/C, and a process for producing the pigment comprising applying layers A, B, and C atop one another to a substrate, removing the layers together from the substrate (as in instant claim 11), and then comminuting them (as in instant claim 12) to provide the pigments (Abstract; Col. 13, line 63-Col. 14, line 24); wherein layers A and C are independently at least one partly light-permeable absorption layer, such as metal layers that can be applied by gas-phase decomposition of volatile metal compounds such as nickel, or metals that can be deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) or by wet-chemical means such as silver or copper (e.g., each either an “absorber” layer or a “reflector” layer as in instant claim 2; Col. 6, lines 41-54; Col. 14, line 39-Col. 15, line 31); and layer B is at least one cholesteric layer that is a dielectric polymer layer formed from a mixture of monomers, oligomers and/or polymers as disclosed in Col. 8, line 27-Col. 13, line 52, applied by customary techniques such as by casting or knife coating as shown in Fig. 1 with respect to the example (reading upon the claimed “liquid coating process”) or other coating means as recited in Col. 14, lines 5-14 and subjected to drying and curing (as in instant claims 5 and 15-16; Col. 16, line 32-Col. 17, line 28); and given that the coated substrate prior to comminuting reads upon the claimed “foil” as recited in instant claim 14 while after removal and comminuting the resulting platelet-shaped pigments read upon the claimed “pigment flake” of instant claim 13, Schuhmacher anticipates instant claims 1-2, 5, and 11-16 (Entire document, particularly Abstract; Col. 3, lines 3-47; Col. 6, lines 41-54; Col. 8, line 27-Col. 13, line 52; Col. 14, line 39-Col. 15, line 31).
With respect to instant claim 6, Schuhmacher discloses that if casting techniques are employed to applying the cholesteric mixture, the pourable cholesteric mixture is preferably applied to the substrate at a rate from about 1 to 800 m/min (Col. 17, lines 17-24), thereby anticipating instant claim 6.
With respect to instant claims 8-9, Schuhmacher discloses the in the case of the knife or bar coating process, the liquid is applied to a substrate through a slot in a casting block such that the layer thickness can be adjustable by way of a defined knife or bar gap (Col. 16, line 51-Col. 17, line 28) reading upon the broadly claimed slot-die process of instant claim 8 and broadly claimed liquid coating process(es) of instant claim 9.
With respect to instant claim 10, as noted above, Schuhmacher discloses that A and/or C can be applied by PVD as instant claimed. Hence, instant claim 10 is anticipated by Schuhmacher.
With respect to instant claims 18-20, Schuhmacher discloses that cholesteric mixtures for producing layer B comprises “cholesteric mixtures selected from a) at least cholesteric mixtures selected from a) at least one cholesteric, polymerizable monomer; b) at least one achiral, nematic, polymerizable monomer and one chiral compound; c) at least one cholesteric, crosslinkable polymer; or d) a cholesteric polymer in a polymerizable diluent; e) at least one cholesteric polymer whose cholesteric phase can be frozen in by rapid cooling to below the glass transition temperature,” particularly the acrylate monomers of Col. 10-12, as well as acrylate diluents of relatively high functionality such as tetraacrylates (Col. 13, lines 8-16); wherein the mixture may include customary photoinitiators such as 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide, hexanediol diacrylate and trimethylolpropane triacrylate (Col. 13, lines 17-42); and the brightness of the cholesteric layer can be increased by adding small amounts of suitable leveling agents such as particularly acrylate polymers like the modified, silicone-free acrylate polymers obtainable under the name Tego flow ZFS 460 from Tego (Col. 13, lines 17-52) reading upon the claimed leveling agent as recited in instant claims 18 and 20 (Entire document, particularly Abstract; Col. 3, lines 3-47; Col. 6, lines 41-54; Col. 8, line 27-Col. 13, line 52; Col. 14, line 39-Col. 15, line 31); and hence, Schuhmacher anticipates instant claims 18-20, particularly given the lack of clarity thereof as discussed above and that the specific oxygen inhibition mitigation composition and photo-initiators of claims 19-20, which are alternative components to the leveling agent and defoamer of instant claim 18, are not positively recited as being present in the wet film.
Claims 1-3, 5, and 8-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Phillips (US2006/0285184A1, hereinafter referred to as “Phillips ‘184”). Phillips ‘184 discloses a color shifting multilayer thin film filter, particularly a pigment flake (Paragraph 0081, as in instant claim 13), wherein the multilayered filters or pigment flakes may have layer structure comprising first and second metallic layers present as an absorber layer (106) and a reflector layer (102), with an organic dielectric layer (104) positioned therebetween that is embossed as shown in Figs. 1-3, that can be formed by providing a releasable substrate comprising a release layer (130) on a substrate (132) as shown in Fig. 3a, and then depositing a metallic absorber layer, an organic dielectric layer, and a metallic reflector layer in this order, or alternatively, a metallic reflector layer, an organic dielectric layer, and a metallic absorber layer, reading upon the claimed method steps as in instant claims 1-2, or further, an absorber layer, organic dielectric layer, reflector layer, embossed organic dielectric layer, and an absorber layer as shown in Fig. 6 as in instant claim 3, producing an embossed foil (as in instant claim 14) that can then be stripped from the substrate (as in instant claim 11) and used to make flakes (as in instant claims 12 and 13; Entire document, particularly Abstract; Figs. 1-3 and 6; Paragraphs 0002, 0004, 0027-0030, 0080-0085; Claim 9); and given that Phillips ‘184 discloses that the organic dielectric layer(s) may be formed from a UV curable lacquer or liquid coating bath comprising a solvent applied using a process known in the art such as dip-coating, followed by drying off the solvent and curing (as in instant claims 5 and 15-16), or applied utilizing a doctor blade and a train of rollers to reduce the thickness of the coating monomer prior to curing as shown in Fig. 15, by vaporizing the monomer in a final hot roll of the train of rollers and condensing the monomer onto the substrate as shown in Fig. 16, or by utilizing a slot die (as in instant claims 8 and 9) coupled to a roll train to improve the uniformity before coating the web either directly or via a hot roll vaporization method (Entire document, particularly Paragraphs 0061, 0065-0067, 0082, 0095, 0101, 0109, 0111, and 0122-0124; Figs. 1-3, 6-12, and 15-17), the Examiner takes the position that Phillips ‘184 discloses the claimed invention with sufficient specificity to anticipate instant claims 1-3, 5, 8-9, and 11-16.
With respect to instant claim 10, Phillips ‘184 discloses that the reflector and absorber layers can be formed by vacuum evaporation/deposition such as by using DC magnetron sputtering units (87) (reading upon the claimed “using a physical vapor deposition process”; Entire document, particularly Paragraphs 0031-0046, 0080, and 0091; Figures), and hence, Phillips ‘184 anticipates instant claim 10.
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.
Claims 1-7 and 10-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phillips (US2002/0160194A1, hereinafter “Phillips ‘194”).
Phillips ‘194 teaches color shifting magnetic pigment flakes and foils, and a method of making the color shifting pigment flakes and foils, wherein the pigment flakes may have a general layer structure of absorber(48)/dielectric(44)/RMF(42)/dielectric(46)/absorber(50), as shown in Fig. 2, with the “RMF” or reflective magnetic flake (42) being reflector(24)/magnetic (22)/reflector(26) as shown in Fig. 1 (Paragraphs 0062 and 0068-0069; Figs. 1-2), or various other layer structures such as shown in the Figs., reading upon the layer structures as recited in instant claims 1-4, wherein the magnetic layer may be formed by depositing magnetic materials as taught in Paragraph 0063, the reflector layer(s) may be formed by depositing one or more metals such as those recited in Paragraph 0067, the absorber layer(s) may be formed by depositing absorbing metallic materials as recited in Paragraph 0077, and the dielectric layer(s) may be formed by depositing organic monomers and polymers such as acrylates as recited in Paragraph 0073 (Entire document, particularly Abstract, Paragraphs 0028-0051, 0054-0063, 0067-0071, 0073, and 0077). Phillips ‘194 teaches that the layers may be deposited in a desired sequence or specific layer structure onto a release layer provided on a flexible web or substrate utilizing conventional deposition methods in the art of forming thin coating structures such as PVD (as in instant claim 10), and then removing the web material such that a plurality of flakes are fractured out along cracks of the layers (as in instant claims 11 and 13) during removal of the web from the multilayer thin film/foil (as in instant claim 14) thereby producing the pigment flakes (Paragraphs 0106-0115 and 0128-0133); and given that Phillips ‘194 also teaches that various coating processes can be utilized in forming the dielectric layers such as sol-gel hydrolysis (a liquid coating process that is known to include a solvent evaporation or drying step thereby reading upon and/or rendering obvious instant claims 5 and 15; Paragraph 0096), and that more generally, the color shifting flakes and foils of the invention can be formed using conventional thin film deposition techniques which are well known in the art of forming thin film coating structures such as PVD (as in instant claim 10), electrolysis deposition (e.g., a liquid coating process), “and other like deposition methods that lead to the formation of discrete and uniform thin film layers” (Paragraphs 0058-0059), wherein a “liquid coating process” utilizing a solvent is a conventional thin film forming process in the art, particularly with respect to monomers and/or polymers, which may be utilized for the dielectric layer(s) as taught by Phillips ‘194, the Examiner takes the position that the claimed invention as recited in instant claims 1-5, 10-11, and 13-15 would have been obvious over the teachings of Phillips ‘194 given that it is prima facie obviousness to choose from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success.
With respect to instant claim 6, although Phillips ‘194 teaches that the coating layers can be deposited onto a web in a roll coater as in Example 1, Phillips ‘194 does not teach a speed for depositing the dielectric layer(s) as instantly claimed. However, given the broad range as recited in instant claim 6 and that typical speeds in the art for conventional coating equipment encompass and/or read upon speeds as instantly claimed (as evidenced by Endle or Schuhmacher, both discussed in detail above with respect to instant claim 6), the Examiner takes the position that absent any clear showing of unexpected results, the claimed invention as recited in instant claim 6 would have been obvious over the teachings of Phillips ‘194.
With respect to instant claim 7, although Phillips ‘194 does not specifically teach that “at least one dielectric layer includes optical thickness variation of about 3% or less” as in instant claim 7, Phillips ‘194 does teach that the layers of the color shifting flakes can be formed using conventional thin film deposition techniques that lead to the formation of discrete and uniform thin film layers (Paragraph 0058), wherein the dielectric layers act as spacers in the thin film stack structure (e.g., optically variable stack) and are formed to have an effective optical thickness for imparting interference color and desired color shifting properties (Paragraph 0070), typically an optical thickness of from about 2 quarter wave optical thickness (QWOT) at a design wavelength of about 400 nm to 9 QWOT at a design wavelength of about 700 nm, or a physical thickness of typically about 100 nm to about 800 nm (Paragraph 0070); and given that Phillips ‘194 also teaches that when layers of the pigment flakes are formed as encapsulating layers, each respective encapsulating layer is a continuous layer “having substantially the same thickness around the flake structure” (Paragraph 0061), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to reasonably expect the optical thickness of each of the dielectric layers of Phillips ‘194 to be “substantially the same” across the respective layer whether formed as encapsulating layers or non-encapsulating layers, and thus reasonably expect an optical thickness variation close to or approaching zero such that the claimed “about 3% or less” (e.g., a typical thickness uniformity for optical coatings as evidenced by Bright, Color shift coatings produced by high rate deposition processes, page 2, line 2) would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention based upon the teachings of Phillips ‘194, particularly given that the optical thickness directly affects the color characteristics of the pigment flakes as taught by Phillips ‘194 including uniformity thereof. Hence, absent any clear showing of unexpected results, the claimed invention as recited in instant claim 7 would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention based upon the teachings of Phillips ‘194.
With respect to instant claim 12, as discussed above with respect to instant claims 11 and 13, Phillips ‘194 teaches that the releasable web/substrate may be removed such that a plurality of flakes are fractured out along cracks of the layers during removal of the web from the multilayer thin film/foil, and given that Phillips ‘194 also teaches an example wherein the pigment flake particles after stripping the foil from the web are filtered and sized by exposing the particles in isopropyl alcohol to ultrasonic agitation for 5 minutes, which may further break down the flake particles (Example 1) broadly reading upon the claimed “are ground” limitation, the claimed invention as recited in instant claim 12 would have been obvious over the teachings of Phillips ‘194, especially given further that one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to utilize a conventional method, e.g., such as grinding, to break down the released film into flake particles of a desired particle size for a particular end use as is conventional in the art.
With respect to instant claims 16-17, given again that Phillips ‘194 provides a clear teaching and/or suggestion of forming the dielectric layer(s) by a sol-gel process wherein in addition to removal of solvent/water from a deposited sol-gel or “wet” film being a typical step in the sol-gel process, it is noted that the sol-gel precursors are “cured” to form a coating film as in instant claim 16, and given that Phillips ‘194 teaches that the dielectric layers have a physical thickness of typically about 100 nm to about 800 nm (Paragraph 0070) as discussed above, overlapping and hence rendering obvious the claimed dry film thickness of about 50 nm to about 700 nm, the claimed invention as recited in instant claims 16-17 would have been obvious over the teachings of Phillips ‘194 given that it is prima facie obviousness to choose from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phillips ‘194 (US2002/0160194A1), as applied above to claims 1-7 and 10-17, and in further view of Cunningham (US2016/0168177A1). The teachings of Phillips ‘194 are discussed in detail above (and incorporated herein by reference) and although Phillips ‘194 teaches that the dielectric layer may be applied by a sol-gel process or by other conventional thin film deposition techniques, and that the dielectric layers may be organic layers formed from monomers and polymers such as (meth)acrylates and combinations thereof (Paragraph 0073), Phillips ‘194 does not teach the liquid coating processes as recited in instant claims 8-9, nor that the “wet film” for forming the dielectric layer(s) includes the components as recited in instant claims 18-20. However, with respect to the composition of the dielectric layers, it is noted that Cunningham specifically teaches photocurable acrylate-based compositions that may be utilized to form dielectric layers (as in Phillips ‘194), thin pigmented layers, and/or coating layers for optical articles (Paragraphs 0201 and 0268), wherein the photocurable acrylate-based composition taught by Cunningham may include the same components as recited in the instantly claimed invention with respect to a composition for forming the first and second dielectric layers as recited in instant claims 18-20, including (meth)acrylate monomer and/or oligomers such as a mercapto modified polyester acrylate, an amine modified polyether tetraacrylate, 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate, polyacrylates (e.g. “leveling agent”), used singly or in any desired mixture (Paragraph 0148); at least one phosphineoxide including liquid phosphine oxide photoinitiators (B) with one or more additional photoinitiators (C), such as particularly preferred diphenyl (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phosphine oxide and/or bis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phenyl phosphineoxide (Abstract; Paragraphs 0192-0195 and 0199, as in instant claims 18-20); and various other components and/or customary additives (D) such as reactive diluents and surfactants (e.g. “leveling” agents), and foam-reducing agents (e.g. “defoamer”) as in instant claim 18 (Entire document, particularly Abstract; Paragraphs 0189-0199, for the photoinitiators; Paragraphs 0129-0136, 0143, 0145-0148, and 0168 for the (meth)acrylate monomers and oligomers; Paragraphs 0148-0150, 0173-0176, 0178-0183, 0181, 0187, 0216, 0218, 0220, 0236, and Examples). Cunningham specifically teaches that the curable compositions comprising a combination of phosphineoxide photoinitiators have improved curing performance (Paragraphs 0001-0002, 0005, 0012, 0191, Examples) and that a preferred field of use of the above coating compositions is for overprint coatings and pigmented thin coatings with a layer thickness of less than 20 microns, wherein overprint coatings typically comprise ethylenically unsaturated compounds such as oligomeric and/or monomeric acrylates, amine acrylates, photoinitiators and coinitiators (Paragraphs 0240-0241); and given that Cunningham also specifically teaches that the photocurable compositions, comprising components as recited in instant claims 18-20, can be used to form dielectric layers in a sequential build-up process and are suitable as coating substances for substrates of all kinds including metals such as Al, Cu, Ni, or Co (e.g., as with the reflective layers of Phillips ‘194; Cunningham: Paragraphs 0201, 0249, and 0268), by known liquid coating methods such as spin-coating, roller application, knife coating, curtain pouring, brush application or spraying (Paragraph 0251), reading upon and/or rendering obvious the claimed coating processes as in instant claims 8-9 (given the known functional equivalence thereof), wherein after coating, the wet film may be dried to remove solvent and cured (Paragraphs 0168-0169, 0201-0202, 0232, 0236, 0250-0251, 0266); and that Phillips ‘194 teaches that the dielectric layers may be formed from (meth)acrylate monomers and polymers and by conventional thin film forming techniques, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to utilize any known dielectric acrylate-based composition for the dielectric layers of Phillips ‘194 including the photocurable, dielectric acrylate-based compositions taught by Cunningham which have improved curing performance and may comprise each of the components of the instantly claimed composition, given that it is prima facie obviousness to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results and/or prima facie obviousness to simply substitute one known element for another to obtain predictable results. Hence, absent any clear showing of criticality and/or unexpected results, the claimed invention as recited in instant claims 1-20 would have been obvious over the teachings of Phillips ‘194 in further view of Cunningham given that it is prima facie obviousness to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results and/or prima facie obviousness to simply substitute one known element for another to obtain predictable results.
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/MONIQUE R JACKSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
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