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
1. 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.
2. Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DeSimone et al. (United States Patent Publication No. US 2009/0028910 A1), hereinafter DeSimone.
3. Regarding Claim 1, DeSimone teaches (Paragraphs [0152-0160]) applying a photo-curable composition to a surface of a substrate, therein a PFPE-based precursor. DeSimone teaches (Paragraphs [0152-0160]) selectively curing the photo-curable composition to form the patterned layer on the surface. DeSimone teaches (Paragraphs [0373-0438]) the photo-curable composition comprises a perfluorinated monomer including cross-linkable functional groups. DeSimone teaches (Paragraphs [0373-0438]) the photo-curable composition comprises a photoinitiator.
4. However, DeSimone fails to explicitly teach all components of the composition limited by the present application with a single experimental example. That said, all components of the composition are described with sufficient detail by the prior art. Thus, a person of ordinary skill in the art in view of DeSimone would have found it obvious to try the combining the prior art elements of DeSimone which meet the limitations of the present application above according to known methods to yield predictable results. Herein, DeSimone included each element claimed by the present application for the relevant claims, although not necessarily in a single prior art reference, with the only difference between the claimed invention and the prior art being the lack of actual combination of the elements in a single prior art reference. Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods taught by DeSimone, and that in combination, each element merely performs the same function as it does separately. Furthermore, DeSimone teaches one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable given that all of the elements are of the relevant claims of the present application are taught by DeSimone and are, even if not taught in a single experimental example.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to RICHARD D CHAMPION at telephone number (571) 272-0750. The examiner can normally be reached on 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Mon-Fri EST.
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/RICHARD DAVID CHAMPION/Examiner, Art Unit 1737