DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Example 1 in the reply filed on 10/6/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim(s) 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuwana et al. (2024/0352256).
Regarding claim 1, Kuwana teaches a non-aqueous ink jet ink composition comprising:
a pigment ([0150]) represented by the following Formula (1) ([0150], Chem. 17); and
an organic solvent ([0076]), wherein the organic solvent includes a glycol diether represented by the following Formula (2) ([0076], diethylene glycol dimethyl ether).
Regarding claim 2, Kuwana teaches the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein the organic solvent further includes a glycol monoether represented by the following Formula (3) : OH- (RnO) n-Rn (3) in Formula (3), Rn represents an alkyl group having 1 or more and 7 or fewer carbon atoms, Rn represents an alkylene group having 1 or more and 3 or fewer carbon atoms, and n represents an integer of 1 or more and 8 or less ([0076], Note that ethylene glycol monomethyl ether meets the limitation).
Regarding claim 3, Kuwana teaches the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein the organic solvent further includes a cyclic lactone ([0079]).
Regarding claim 4, Kuwana teaches the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein a content of the pigment is 0.5 parts by mass or more and 10.0 parts by mass or less with respect to 100 parts by mass of a total amount of the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition ([0085], 0.1-10%). Moreover, according to MPEP 2144.05, where the general conditions of a claim are present in the prior art, it is not inventive to arrive at optimum or workable ranges via routine experimentation. Here, all of the conditions of the claims are present in the prior art, and the claim simply adds a range of pigment contents, but the range is not inventive as it appears to be a result of routine experimentation.
Regarding claim 5, Kuwana teaches the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition according to claim 1. Kuwana does not expressly disclose wherein a content of the glycol diether is 5.0 parts by mass or more and 90.0 parts by mass or less with respect to 100 parts by mass of a total amount of the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition. However, according to MPEP 2144.05, where the general conditions of a claim are present in the prior art, it is not inventive to arrive at optimum or workable ranges via routine experimentation. Here, all of the conditions of the claims are present in the prior art, and the claim simply adds a range of solvent contents, but the range is not inventive as it appears to be a result of routine experimentation.
Regarding claim 6, Kuwana teaches the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition according to claim 2. Kuwana does not expressly teach wherein a content of the glycol monoether is 5.0 parts by mass or more and 80.0 parts by mass or less with respect to 100 parts by mass of a total amount of the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition. However, according to MPEP 2144.05, where the general conditions of a claim are present in the prior art, it is not inventive to arrive at optimum or workable ranges via routine experimentation. Here, all of the conditions of the claims are present in the prior art, and the claim simply adds a range of solvent contents, but the range is not inventive as it appears to be a result of routine experimentation.
Regarding claim 7, Kuwana teaches the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition according to claim 3. Kuwana does not disclose wherein a content of the cyclic lactone is 1.0 part by mass or more and 50.0 parts by mass or less with respect to 100 parts by mass of a total amount of the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition. However, according to MPEP 2144.05, where the general conditions of a claim are present in the prior art, it is not inventive to arrive at optimum or workable ranges via routine experimentation. Here, all of the conditions of the claims are present in the prior art, and the claim simply adds a range of lactone contents, but the range is not inventive as it appears to be a result of routine experimentation.
Regarding claim 8, Kuwana teaches the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein the glycol diether includes one or more selected from the group consisting of diethylene glycol ethyl methyl ether, diethylene glycol diethyl ether, and tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether ([0076], see claim 1, rejection).
Regarding claim 9, Kuwana teaches the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition according to claim 2, wherein the glycol monoether includes one or more selected from the group consisting of triethylene glycol monobutyl ether, tetraethylene glycol monobutyl ether, dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, and octaethylene glycol monomethyl ether ([0076], see claim 1, rejection).
Regarding claim 11, Kuwana teaches an ink jet recording method, comprising: discharging the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 from an ink jet head by using an ink jet method to cause the non-aqueous ink jet ink composition to adhere to a recording medium ([0002], [0019], [0074].
Regarding claim 11, Kuwana teaches the ink jet recording method according to claim 10, wherein the recording medium contains a vinyl chloride-based resin ([0082]).
Conclusion
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/ALEJANDRO VALENCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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