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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's request for reconsideration of the finality of the rejection of the last Office action is persuasive and, therefore, the finality of that action is withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments filed 11/18/2025 with respect to the rejection of claims 1, 2-3, 5-6, and 8-9 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Kodama teaches against including less than 15 parts by weight of the melamine based compound ([0013]). Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Zaghib and Shiozaki.
Applicant argues (p. 4-7) that the cited references do not disclose a positive electrode active material layer comprising a binder content, wherein the binder content of the second positive electrode active material layer consists essentially of the first binder which is a melamine-based compound, because the cited references do not disclose the melamine-based compound as a binder. Though MPEP 2112(II) does suggest that there is no requirement that a person of ordinary skill have recognized an inherent property at the relevant time, the property of being a binder component is unknown and therefore cannot be obvious.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees, as Zaghib teaches a layer having no binder. Nakamura (in the previous rejection) and Shiozaki (in the new rejection presented below) each teach the flame retardant benefits of melamine-based compounds such that a skilled artisan would be motivated to add a melamine-based compound to the layer of Zaghib, thereby arriving at the claimed invention even though the prior art does not recognize the binding properties of the melamine-based compound. Therefore, this argument is not found persuasive.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3, 5-6, and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zaghib (US 2009/0301866 A1, previously cited) in view of Shiozaki (US 2015/0188143 A1; cited in the IDS filed 05/18/2021).
Regarding claim 1, Zaghib discloses a positive electrode (cathode, FIG. 1, [0024]) for a secondary battery, the positive electrode comprising a positive electrode active material layer (A’ and B’, FIG. 1, [0244]) formed on a surface of a positive electrode collector (1, FIG. 1, [0235]), wherein the positive electrode active material layer (A’ and B’) has a multilayer structure including a first positive electrode active material layer (A’) formed on the positive electrode collector (1) and a second positive electrode active material layer (B’) formed on the first positive electrode active material layer (FIG. 1, [0244]), the first positive electrode active material layer (A’) comprises a first positive electrode active material (LiFePO4, FIG. 1) and a second binder (when layer A’ is LiFePO4, a binder of PVDF or PTFE is used [0247]), and the second positive active material layer (B’) comprises a second positive electrode active material (LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, LiNiO2, LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2, FIG. 1) (see also [0114]-[0117]).
Zaghib does not disclose wherein the first positive electrode active material layer and second active material layer comprise a melamine-based compound that is different from the second binder, wherein the first positive electrode active material layer comprises 1.5 to 10 parts by weight of the first binder which is a melamine-based compound and the second binder which is not a melamine-based compound with respect to 100 parts by weight of the first positive electrode active material, or wherein the second positive electrode active material layer comprises a binder content, wherein the binder content of the second positive electrode active material layer consists essentially of the first binder which is a melamine-based compound present in the amount of 1.5 to 10 parts by weight of the first binder with respect to 100 parts by weight of the second positive electrode active material.
Zaghib teaches embodiments wherein the first positive electrode layer comprises 3.8 parts by weight of the second binder with respect to 100 parts by weight of the first positive electrode active material ([0268], [0272]). Therefore, a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would find it obvious to form the first positive electrode active material layer of Zaghib to include 3.8 parts by weight of the second binder, as it has been held that combining two embodiments disclosed adjacent to each other in a prior art patent does not require a leap of inventiveness and involves only routine skill in the art.
Shiozaki discloses a positive electrode (10, FIG. 1, [0016]) for a secondary battery ([0014]), the positive electrode (10) comprising a positive electrode active material layer (22, FIG. 1, [0016]) formed on a surface of a positive electrode collector (20, FIG. 1, [0016]), wherein the positive electrode active material layer (22) comprises a positive electrode active material (24, FIG. 1, [0016]) and a melamine-based compound (30, FIG. 1, [0016]), and wherein the melamine based compound (30) is present in the amount of 1.5 to 10 parts by weight of the melamine-based compound (30) with respect to 100 parts by weight of the positive electrode active material (24) (melamine-based compound is present in 1 to 5 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the total positive electrode active material layer, claim 6; the positive electrode of Examples 1 and 2 include 92 parts by weight of the positive electrode active material, [0045] and [0054]; the melamine-based compound may therefore be present in 1.1 to 5.4 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the positive electrode active material).
A person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would therefore find it obvious to modify the electrode of Zaghib by adding 1.1 to 5.4 parts by weight of a melamine-based compound to the first and second positive electrode active material layers, based on the weight of the first and second positive electrode active material, because Shiozaki teaches that the melamine-based compound exhibits strong flame retardance within the positive electrode ([0025]). Further, Zaghib teaches that the electrode may be modified beyond the disclosed embodiments ([0300]).
Though Shiozaki identifies the melamine-based compound as a flame retardant ([0021]) rather than a binder, the instant specification indicates that melamine cyanurate alone is functional as the first binder (see, e.g., [0073] of published application US 2021/0408548 A1). There is no requirement that a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have recognized the inherent disclosure at the relevant time, but only that the subject matter is in fact inherent in the prior art reference [MPEP § 2112]. The melamine cyanurate of Shiozaki therefore reads on the “first binder which is a melamine-based compound” of claim 1 and, because Zaghib teaches that the first positive electrode active material layer comprises 3.8 parts by weight of the second binder which is different from the melamine-based compound (see above) and that the second positive electrode active material layer does not contain the second binder (Case IV. in FIG. 1, [0114]-[0117]), Zaghib in view of Nakamura meets the limitations “the first positive electrode active material layer comprises a first binder which is a melamine-based compound, the first positive electrode active material layer comprises 1.5 to 10 parts by weight of the first binder which is a melamine-based compound and the second binder which is different from the melamine-based compound, with respect to 100 parts by weight of the first positive electrode active material, and the second positive electrode active material layer comprises… a binder content, wherein the binder content of the second positive electrode active material layer consists essentially of the first binder which is a melamine-based compound present in the amount of 1.5 to 10 parts by weight of the first binder with respect to 100 pars by weight of the second positive electrode active material.”
Regarding claim 2, Zaghib in view of Shiozaki teaches wherein the melamine-based compound is a melamine acid salt (Shiozaki: [0021]).
Regarding claim 3, Zaghib in view of Shiozaki teaches wherein the melamine acid salt comprises melamine cyanurate (Shiozaki: [0021]).
Regarding claim 5, Zaghib in view of Shiozaki teaches wherein the first positive electrode active material layer comprises the first binder which is a melamine-based compound and the second binder which is different from the melamine-based compound in a weight ratio of 0.5:1 to 10:1 (Zaghib teaches 3.8 parts by weight of the second binder which is different from the melamine-based compound and Shiozaki teaches 1.1 to 5.4 parts by weight of the second binder which is different from the melamine0based compound, see claim 1, equivalent to an overlapping range of 0.3:1 to 1.4:1, thereby establishing a prima facie case of obviousness [MPEP § 2144.05(I)]).
Regarding claim 6, Zaghib in view of Shiozaki teaches wherein the second binder comprises a polyvinylidene fluoride (Zaghib: [0247]).
Regarding claim 8, Zaghib in view of Shiozaki does not disclose wherein the first positive electrode active material layer and the second positive electrode active material layer have a thickness ratio of 5:95 to 50:50.
However, Zaghib discloses that a thickness of the first positive electrode active material layer is between 1 and 200 µm ([0099]) and a thickness of the second positive electrode active material layer is between 1 and 200 µm ([0100]). In any configuration, the thickness of the first positive electrode active material layer may be greater or less than that of the second positive active material layer ([0252]). Therefore, a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious to have modified the electrode of Zaghib in view of Nakamura and Kodama such that the first positive electrode active material layer and the second positive electrode active material layer have a thickness ratio of 5:95 to 50:50 because Zaghib teaches that the relative thickness of the first and second layers is not particularly limited ([0252]).
Regarding claim 9, Zaghib in view of Shiozaki teaches a lithium secondary battery comprising the positive electrode according to claim 1 (Zaghib: lithium batteries in examples 5-9, [0286]-[0292]).
Conclusion
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/C.C.D./Examiner, Art Unit 1723 /TIFFANY LEGETTE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1723