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 .
This Office action is response to amendment/remarks filed on 04/28/26.
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.
Claims 1-4 and 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Washio (US 2019/0016863) in view of Yamamoto (JP2017019674).
Regarding claim 1, Washio discloses a foldable optical film (fig. 1, para. 0096) with a front surface (1) and a back surface (5) opposite to the front surface, comprising:
a light-transmitting base material (2), a hard coat layer (1), and a resin layer (3),
wherein the light-transmitting base material (2) is a base material containing a polyimide resin, a polyamide resin, or a combination thereof (paras. 0069 and 0179);
the hard coat layer (1, para. 0097) is located closer to the front surface than the resin layer in the optical film;
the resin layer (2, para. 0179) has a film thickness of 30 µm or more and 500 µm or less.
Washio does not specifically disclose the resin layer has a Martens hardness of 1 MPa or more and 100 MPa or less.
In a similar field of endeavor of the optical film, Yamamoto discloses resin layer has a Martens hardness of 1 MPa or more and 100 MPa or less (para. 0035).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the hardness as taught by Yamamoto in the system of Washio in order to obtain the resin layer with a flexibility and without an excessive deformation (para. 0035).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Washio and Yamamoto discloses the hard coat layer (1), the light-transmitting base material (2), and the resin layer (3) arranged in this order from the front surface to the back surface in the optical film (fig. 1, para. 0096 of Washio).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Washio and Yamamoto discloses the hard coat layer (1), the resin layer (3), and the light-transmitting base material (4) arranged in this order from the front surface to the back surface in the optical film (fig. 1, para. 0096 of Washio).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Washio and Yamamoto discloses the resin layer has a film thickness of 50 µm or more and 500 µm or less (para. 0036 of Yamamoto).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Washio and Yamamoto discloses an image display device (para. 0012 of Washio), comprising:
a display panel; and
the optical film placed on the observer's side of the display panel,
wherein the front surface of the optical film is closer to the observer's side than the back surface of the optical film (paras. 0012-0013 of Washio).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Washio and Yamamoto discloses the display panel is an organic light-emitting diode panel (paras. 0002-0003 of Yamamoto).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Washio in view of Yamamoto and further in view of Nodono et al. (US 2018/0370207).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Washio and Yamamoto does not specifically disclose no crack or break is formed in the optical film when the optical film is folded in a manner that leaves a gap of 30 mm between the opposite edges, and then unfolded, and the process is repeated one hundred thousand times.
In a similar field of endeavor of optical film, Nodono discloses no crack or break is formed in the optical film (10, fig. 6) when the optical film is folded in a manner that leaves a gap of 30 mm between the opposite edges, and then unfolded, and the process is repeated one hundred thousand times (paras. 0020-0021).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the optical film as taught by Nodono in the system of Washio and Yamamoto in order to enhance the flexibility for a display device.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-7 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JENNIFER T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7696. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin C Lee can be reached at 5712722963. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JENNIFER T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2629
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