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) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakano et al.(# US 2012/0225968) in view of Sato et al. (# US 2019/0169453).
Nakano et al. discloses:
1. An ink jet ink (see Abstract), comprising:
Water (see Abstract; [0186]-[0187]); and
particles which contain a polymerizable compound A ([0141]-[0146]),
wherein the polymerizable compound A has two or more ethylenically unsaturated groups in one molecule, and has a weight-average molecular weight of 1000 or more ([0077]-[0166]; see Examples: 6-7).
2. The ink jet ink according to claim 1, wherein the ethylenically unsaturated group is a (meth)acryloyl group ([0039]; [0080]; [0088]-[0089]; [0122]-[0123]).
3. The ink jet ink according to claim 1, wherein the polymerizable compound A is a urethane (meth)acrylate having two or more (meth)acryloyl groups in one molecule ([0142]-[0145]).
4. The ink jet ink according to claim 1, wherein the polymerizable compound A includes a polymerizable compound A1 having six or more ethylenically unsaturated groups in one molecule (three or more (meth)acryloyl groups, [0144]).
5. The ink jet ink according to claim 4, wherein the polymerizable compound A1 has ten or more ethylenically unsaturated groups in one molecule (three or more (meth)acryloyl groups, [0144]).
6. The ink jet ink according to claim 1, wherein the polymerizable compound A includes a polymerizable compound A2 having two or three ethylenically unsaturated groups in one molecule and having a weight-average molecular weight of 2000 or more ([0077]; see Examples 6-7).
7. The ink jet ink according to claim 6, wherein the polymerizable compound A2 has two ethylenically unsaturated groups in one molecule and has a weight-average molecular weight of 4000 or more ([0077]-[0166]; see Examples: 6-7).
8. The ink jet ink according to claim 1, wherein the polymerizable compound A includes a polymerizable compound A1 having six or more ethylenically unsaturated groups in one molecule, and a polymerizable compound A2 having two or three ethylenically unsaturated groups in one molecule and having a weight-average molecular weight of 2000 or more ([0077]-[0166]).
9. The ink jet ink according to claim 8, wherein a ratio of a content of the polymerizable compound A1 to a total content of the polymerizable compound A1 and the polymerizable compound A2 is from 0.2 to 0.8 (see Examples).
10. The ink jet ink according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of a content of the polymerizable compound A to a total content of the polymer P having an acid group and the polymerizable compound A is from 0.3 to 0.7 (see Examples).
11. The ink jet ink according to claim 1, wherein the particles further contain a polymerizable compound B which is a monofunctional polymerizable compound having a ring structure ([0077]-[0166]).
12. The ink jet ink according to claim 11, wherein a ratio of a content of the polymerizable compound B to a total content of the polymerizable compound A and the polymerizable compound B is from 0.2 to 0.5 ([0077]-[0166]).
14. An ink jet recording method ([0218]-[0221]), comprising:
applying the ink jet ink according to claim 1 onto a base material by an ink jet recording system ([0220]-[0221]); and
irradiating the ink jet ink applied onto the base material with an active energy ray ([0222]-[0225]).
Nakano et al. explicitly di not discloses:
1. A polymer P having an acid group.
13. The ink jet ink according to claim 1, wherein a content of (meth)acrylic acid contained in the ink jet ink after a storage test is 0.1% by mass or less ([0048]).
Sato et al. teaches to have the composition with excellent storage stability, a polymer P having an acid group ([0201]-[0227]).
13. The ink jet ink according to claim 1, wherein a content of (meth)acrylic acid contained in the ink jet ink after a storage test is 0.1% by mass or less ([0049]; see Examples).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the ink composition of Nakano et al. by the aforementioned teaching of Sato et al. in order to have the ink composition with excellent storage stability.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(1) Kagata (# US 2015/0115202) discloses an ink set according to the invention includes a first ink composition which contains a first coloring material, and a second ink composition which contains a second coloring material other than the first coloring material, in which the first coloring material is at least one of a white coloring material formed of second particles with an average particle diameter of 200 nm or more to 1 .mu.m or less formed by collecting a plurality of first particles with an average particle diameter of less than 200 nm, or a photoluminescent pigment with a specific gravity of 2.0 or more, and the viscosity of the first ink composition at 20.degree. C. is 1.3 times or more with respect to the viscosity of the second ink composition at 20.degree. C (see Abstract).
(2) Araki et al. (# US 2014/0370214) discloses the ink composition of the present invention is a radiation-curable ink composition and is cured after being applied onto a recording medium, it is preferable that it does not contain volatile solvent and is solvent-free. This is because, if volatile solvent remains in a cured ink image, the solvent resistance is degraded, and the VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) problem based remaining on volatile solvent occurs. The content of a solvent, including water, is preferably 5 mass % or less, more preferably 3 mass % or less, yet more preferably 1 mass % or less, and most preferably the ink composition substantially contains no solvent. However, a case in which the ink composition comprises a slight amount of water, etc. due to it absorbing moisture in the air in a usual application mode is not excluded ([0050]).
(3) Saito et al. (# US 2014/0160215) discloses an active-energy-ray-curable inkjet recording ink composition is provided, in which a polymerizable compound having an active-energy-ray-polymerizable group and a polymerizable compound having at least two active-energy-ray-polymerizable groups are used in amounts of 60 to 95 mass % and 5 to 40 mass % relative to the total amount of the active-energy-ray-polymerizable compound, respectively; the polymerizable compound having an active-energy-ray-polymerizable group includes N-vinyl-2-caprolactam and isobornyl acrylate in amounts of 1 to 15 mass % and 1 to 25 mass % relative to the total amount of the active-energy-ray-polymerizable compound, respectively; and the polymerizable compound having at least two active-energy-ray-polymerizable groups includes a polymerizable compound having a vinyl ether group. Furthermore, a method for forming an image is provided (see Abstract).
(4) Toyoda et al. (# US 2015/0315397) discloses an ink jet recording apparatus including: a base metal pigment ink composition; and a first nozzle that ejects the base metal pigment ink composition, in which the base metal pigment ink composition contains a flat base metal pigment of which a 50% average particle diameter D50 is in a range of 100 nm to 1 μm, and an organic compound of which a surface tension at 20° C. is 35 mN/m or greater, and an ejection interval T1 after the base metal pigment ink composition is ejected from the first nozzle and before the base metal pigment ink composition is ejected again from the first nozzle is within 100 μs (see Abstract).
(5) Aoyama et al. (# US 2012/0052261) discloses an ink jet recording method including primarily applying a resin ink containing resin components to a recording medium to form a first resin ink layer, and secondarily applying the resin ink to the first resin ink layer to form a second resin ink layer, to thereby form a resin ink layer, wherein each of the primary applying process and the secondary applying process includes drying the applied resin ink (see Abstract).
(6) Nakazawa et al. (# US 2008/0239043) discloses an active energy ray curable-type ink (see Abstract) comprising: metal particles (metal pigment; see Abstract; [0112]-[0116]); and polymerizable compounds ([0028]-[0031]), wherein the scale-like metal particle have an average equivalent circle diameter of 50 nm to 1,000 nm (0.02 to 4 micrometer; [0122]) and an average aspect ratio, which is a ratio of the average equivalent circle diameter to an average thickness, of 5 to 100 ([0122]).
(7) Takiguchi et al. (# US 2016/0264794) discloses: An inkjet ink (see Abstract; [0023]) comprising: scale-like metal particles (metal powder; [0020]-[0027]; [0045]- [0049]), wherein an average major axis of the scale-like metal particles is equal to or less than 400 nm (0.10 micrometer to 0.40 micrometer; 100 nm to 400 nm; [0022]), and the inkjet ink contains 2 to 10 mass % of the scale-like metal particles (1.2% to 19.3%; [0136]).
(8) Oyanagi et al. (# US 2008/0213518) discloses an ink set includes a metallic ink composition containing a metal pigment and at least one curable ink composition selected from the group consisting of a chromatic ink composition, a black ink composition, and a white ink composition (See Abstract).
(9) Toyoda et al. (# US 2016/0340532) discloses an ultraviolet-curable composition for inkjet that includes a polymerized compound and a glittering powder. The glittering powder has a scale-like shape. An average thickness of the glittering powder is more than 10 nm and less than 100 nm, an average grain diameter is less than 3.0 μm, and in addition, a maximum grain diameter is less than 5 μm (see Abstract).
(10) Hara et al. (# US 2024/0182735) discloses an active energy ray-curable inkjet ink containing metal particles, a polymerizable compound, and a polymerization inhibitor, in which the metal particles have a specific gravity of 3 or more, in a cross section of an ink film having a thickness of 1 μm or more, which is obtained by curing a solution prepared by adjusting a content of the metal particles in the active energy ray-curable inkjet ink to 0.5% by mass, 50% by mass or more of a total mass of the metal particles is present in a region within 100 nm from a surface of the ink film to an inside of the ink film, and a surface tension of the active energy ray-curable inkjet ink is 30 mN/m or more; and an image recording method (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.
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MANISH S. SHAH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2853
/Manish S Shah/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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