DETAILED ACTION
Summary
Applicant’s amendment dated 10 August 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 6-10 are pending.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
New grounds of rejection set forth below are necessitated by applicant’s amendment dated 10 August 2026. For this reason, this action is properly made final.
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
Claims 6 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NEWBERTH (US-6596808-B1) in view of KIM (WO-2012046917-A1).
Regarding Claims 6 and 10, NEWBERTH teaches an anaerobic adhesive composition (Abstract) comprising an anaerobically curable (meth)acrylate monomer and a cure system for said (meth)acrylate monomer (Col 4: 8-10). This satisfies components (a) and (b) recited by the claim.
NEWBERTH teaches that it is desirable to include a monofunctional acrylate ester which has a relatively polar alcoholic moiety as the polar group tends to provide intermolecular attraction during and after the cure resulting in a more desirable cure properties as well as a more durable adhesive (Col 5: 41-48). NEWBERTH teaches that particularly desirable polar groups include heterocyclic rings (Col 5: 48-50). NEWBERTH teaches that this monomers are often incorporated as reactive diluents capable of copolymerization with other materials (Col 5:55-57). NEWBERTH exemplifies a heterocyclic methacrylate in combination with an alkyl methacrylate (Composition H: Col 12: 63) but does not exemplify a heterocyclic methacrylate which would satisfy structure I recited by Claim 6, exemplifying tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate (2455-24-5, Col 5: 52) instead. KIM, in an invention of a (meth)acrylate-based polymer (Abstract), teaches many (meth)acrylate monomers with heterocyclic side groups with 2-20 carbon atoms (p. 5, center of page) including tetrafurfuryl methacrylate (Example 7) and the isomers of piperidinyl methacrylate including the following structure (p. 6 of Korean document, structure 18):
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which satisfies structure I recited by the claim where R is a methacryl unit, R6, A and A’ are hydrogen, X is CH2 and n is 1, and satisfies the structure recited in Claim 10. The structure above shows the polymerized repeat unit. KIM teaches that its (meth)acrylate polymer is formed from (meth)acrylic monomers (p. 12, par. 1). KIM exemplifies its heterocyclic (meth)acrylate in combination with other methacrylates such as t-butyl (meth)acrylate (p. 12, Example 7 referring to Example 1). KIM teaches that its (meth)acrylate compounds promote adhesion to a substrate (p. 2, par. 4; p. 11, par. 2) which is relevant to the invention of NEWBERTH. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the current invention to modify the invention of NEWBERTH with the teachings of KIM and use a piperidinyl methacrylate monomer as its heterocyclic monomer as it is an equivalent and interchangeable monomer and promotes adhesion to a substrate. Case law holds that the mere substitution of an equivalent (something equal in value or meaning, as taught by analogous prior art) is not an act of invention; where equivalency is known to the prior art, the substitution of one equivalent for another is not patentable. See In re Ruff 118 USPQ 343 (CCPA 1958). NEWBERTH and KIM do not characterize its heterocyclic methacrylates as curing accelerators, but NEWBERTH teaches that these monomers produce more desirable cure properties (Col 5: 41-48) and the instant specification uses the same piperidin-3-methacrylate structure as an accelerator in its instant examples (cur spec: [00102]) so it is presumed to have cure-accelerator functionality.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 7-9 were deemed allowable in the previous office action and the status of these claims is unchanged. Claims 7-8 are allowable for the same reasons set forth in the non-final action dated 14 May 2026. Claim 9 is allowable for the same reason set forth in the final action dated 18 February 2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10 August 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that the amendment specifying that the cure accelerator is a compound present in addition to the (a) component overcomes the rejections of the previous office action. In response, both NEWBERTH and KIM, teach that its (meth)acrylate component may contain multiple monomers. NEWBERTH teaches an anaerobically curable composition containing a heterocyclic methacrylate in combination with an alkyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid as monomer compounds (Col 12: Composition H). KIM also teaches examples containing a combination of a heterocyclic methacrylate and other methacrylates as monomer compounds (Example 7) and includes general teachings which make obvious the heterocyclic methacrylate recited in Claim 10. Although neither NEWBERTH nor KIM characterizes their heterocyclic methacrylates as cure accelerators. This characterization is an intended use. A recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim. The prior art makes obvious the recited Claim 10 compound in an anaerobically curable composition which include other methacrylate. This compound is presumed capable of performing the intended use of a cure accelerator because it is the same compound used in the instant examples and is recited by Claim 10. Note that the claims do not recite any amounts for the (c) component, either absolute or relative to the other components, that could be used to distinguish the compositions taught in the prior art with those disclosed in the instant invention.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/D.R.F./Examiner, Art Unit 1764
/KREGG T BROOKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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