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
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1 - 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakurai et al (US 2004/0224129).
With regards to claim 1, Sakurai teaches a pressure sensitive adhesive sheet comprising a pressure sensitive adhesive layer having a surface with unevenness (Abstract, Figure 2). Sakurai states that the substrate of the adhesive sheet can include paper or plastics (paragraph 22) which tend to be stretchable in a planar direction. While Sakurai is silent with regards to the surface peeling force, Sakurai states that if the width of the opening at the upper surface exceeds 80 microns or the depth exceeds 50 microns the adherent would decrease to make the adhesion insufficient (paragraph 32). One of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate that, when the substrate is stretched, it would increase the width of the opening in the uneven surface reducing the peeling force.
With regards to claims 2, 3, 7 and 11, the teachings of Sakurai are presented above. Sakurai fails to explicitly disclose the tensile modulus or the elongation at break of the pressure sensitive adhesive sheet. Yet one of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate that , since Sakurai discloses that the substrates of the adhesive sheets are of the same material as the claimed invention (paragraph 22), they would have the same tensile elastic modulus of 2500 MPa or less, an elongation at break of 105% or more, is stretchable by 1% or more in the planar direction and has a shear storage elastic modulus of 0.001 MPa or more and 100 MPa or less.
With regards to claim 4, the teachings of Sakurai are presented above. Additionally, Sakurai teaches that the base material is a polyolefin-based film or a vinyl chloride copolymer film (paragraph 22).
With regards to claim 5, the teachings of Sakurai are presented above. Additionally, Sakurai teaches that the adhesive sheet comprises a release layer having an uneven surface complementary to an uneven surface of the pressure sensitive adhesive layer (paragraphs 36 and 37).
With regards to claim 6, the teachings of Sakurai are presented above. Additionally, Sakurai teaches that the height of the protrusion of the release layer is 1 micron or more (paragraph 31).
With regards to claim 8, the teachings of Sakurai are presented above. Additionally, Sakurai teaches that the pressure sensitive adhesive layer has a plurality of protrusions separated from each other with a boundary defined by a recess (Figure 4 items 2 and 3) and a pitch of the plurality of protrusions in the pressure sensitive adhesive sheet before the stretching is 1 micron or more and 100 micron or less (paragraph 31).
With regards to claim 9, the teachings of Sakurai are presented above. While Sakurai fails to explicitly disclose that a pitch of protrusion after stretching is 1.05 times or more than the pitch before stretching, one of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate that when the substrate is stretched it would increase the pitch.
With regards to claim 10, the teachings of Sakurai are presented above. Additionally, Sakurai teaches that the pressure sensitive adhesive layer is formed of a pressure sensitive adhesive composition containing an energy ray-curable compound (paragraphs 23 and 24).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHEL RIVERA whose telephone number is (571)270-7655. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 12pm - 8pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Orlando can be reached at (571) 270-5038. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSHEL RIVERA/Examiner, Art Unit 1746
/MICHAEL N ORLANDO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1746
