Patent ID: 8439403

Claim:
A printed article comprising: a light transmissive substrate having a first-side surface and a second-side surface; a first opaque coating supported on one of said first and said second-side surfaces, said first coating comprising a plurality of spaced apart opaque printed regions, said plurality of spaced apart printed regions defining spaces therebetween, wherein some of said spaces between said plurality of spaced apart printed regions have a width W 1 less than or equal to P 1 ; and a second coating, physically distinct from said first coating, said second coating supported on one of said first and said second-side surfaces, said second coating comprising a special effect coating including a carrier having a plurality of flakes disposed therein spanning at least some of said spaces between said plurality of spaced apart printed regions and covering at least part of one or more of said printed regions, wherein said plurality of flakes within said special effect coating have an average particle size of P 1 greater or equal to 5 microns; and wherein the first coating provides a masking function for hiding uneven or oversized flake edges contained in the second coating while simultaneously permitting viewing of special effect printed regions of the second coating through the spaces located between the spaced and opaque first printed regions of the first coating and wherein some of the spaces printed with the special effect coating appear to a viewer as thin lines.