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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/19/2026 has been entered.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species B, a compound exhibiting thermally activated delayed fluorescence, for the first material, and Species D, a compound represented by chemical formula (G1), for the second material, in the reply filed on 01/21/2025 was acknowledged.
Claim 14 was previously withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/21/2025.
Claims 1-4, 6, 9-13, 15-17, and 19-26 encompass the claimed species.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/19/2026 has been considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
The applicant's amendment of 03/19/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-4 are amended and claim 8 is cancelled due to the applicant's amendment.
Claims 1-4, 6, 9-17, and 19-26 are pending.
The objection to claim 3 as set forth in the previous Office action is overcome due to the applicant's amendment.
The rejection of claims 1-4, 6, 8-13, 15-17, and 19-26 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogiwara et al. US-20160172602-A1 in view of Funahashi et al. WO-2004092111-A1 and Hatwar et al. US-20100288362-A1 as set forth in the previous Office action is withdrawn due to reconsideration of the original grounds of rejection.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to rejection of record under 35 U.S.C. 103 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-2, 4, 6, 9-17, and 23-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claims 1 and 4, the claims recite "wherein two protecting groups are bonded to a 3-position and a 5-position of each aryl group in the two or more diarylamino groups." First, there is no recitation in the specification of wherein two protecting groups are bonded to a 3-position and a 5-position of each generic aryl group in the two or more diarylamino groups. Additionally, while the specification recites "phenyl groups in the two or more diphenylamino groups each independently have protecting groups at the 3-position and the 5-position" (see paragraph [0024] and [0213]) and teaches exemplary compounds wherein phenyl groups of diphenylamino groups have protecting groups at the 3-position and the 5-position, it is unclear where there is support for wherein two protecting groups are bonded to a 3-position and a 5-position of any aryl group other than a phenyl in a diphenylamino group. Consequently, it is unclear that Applicant had possession at the time of filing the claimed invention wherein two protecting groups are bonded to a 3-position and a 5-position of each aryl group in the two or more diarylamino groups wherein the aryl is other than phenyl.
Claims 2 and 9-17 are dependent on claim 1 and therefore, for the reasons outlined above with respect to claim 1, these claims also contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 6 and 23-26 are dependent on claim 4 and therefore, for the reasons outlined above with respect to claim 4, these claims also contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 6, 9-17, and 19-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Seo et al. US-20210043840-A1 (hereinafter "Seo").
It is noted that Seo et al. US-20210043840-A1 is cited on the IDS of 01/31/2022.
The applied reference has a common inventor and assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Regarding claims 1-4, 6, 9-17, and 19-26, Seo teaches a light-emitting element comprising a plurality of light-emitting units between a pair of electrodes (¶ [0506]; FIG. 7) comprising a first light-emitting unit and a second light-emitting unit that are stacked, and a charge-generation layer provided between them (¶ [0507]), wherein the light-emitting units have a structure of an EL layer (¶ [0506]-[0507]) that includes at least a light-emitting layer (¶ [0246]). Seo teaches wherein the light emitting layer contains a compound that has a function of converting triplet excitation energy into light emission as a host material and a compound that has a function of converting singlet excitation energy into light emission as a guest material (¶ [0256], ¶ [0027]). Seo teaches wherein the second material contains a luminophore and two or more diarylamino groups; the luminophore is a condensed aromatic ring or a condensed heteroaromatic ring; the condensed aromatic ring or the condensed heteroaromatic ring is bonded to the two or more diphenylamino groups; phenyl groups in the two or more diphenylamino groups each independently have protecting group at the 3-position and the 5-position (¶ [0027]). Seo teaches wherein the first compound has a TADF (thermally activated delayed fluorescence) property and the singlet excitation energy level of the first compound is higher than the singlet excitation energy level of the second compound (¶ [0259]-[0265]), which means the single excitation energy level of the second material is lower than a singlet excitation level energy of the first material. Seo teaches light emission is obtained from the second material (¶ [0027]). Seo discloses wherein the second material has the structure
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(¶ [0286]), wherein the protecting groups at the 3-position and the 5-position on the phenyl groups in the two or more diphenylamino groups are each tert-butyl, which is a quaternary carbon.
Seo teaches a display device including the light-emitting element and an electronic device including the display device and a housing (¶ [0045]).
Seo teaches that a plurality of light-emitting materials with different emission wavelengths in one or both of the light-emitting layers in the light emitting units, such that the light-emitting element emits light obtained by synthesizing light emission having different emission peaks; thus, its emission spectrum has at least two maximum values (¶ [0517]). Seo further teaches wherein the light-emitting element includes a light-emitting layer including a blue fluorescent material and a light-emitting layer including a yellow phosphorescent material (¶ [0521]). The peak wavelength of the yellow phosphorescent material is longer than the blue fluorescent material.
Thus, the light-emitting element of Seo meets claims 1-4, 6, 9-17, and 19-26.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Elizabeth M. Dahlburg whose telephone number is 571-272-6424. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, and alternate Fridays.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Boyd can be reached at 571-272-7783. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ELIZABETH M. DAHLBURG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1786
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