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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/6/2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 2/24/2026 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(3)(i) because it does not include a concise explanation of the relevance, as it is presently understood by the individual designated in 37 CFR 1.56(c) most knowledgeable about the content of the information, of each reference (e.g. Chinese Office Action issues 1/29/2026) listed that is not in the English language. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hosono et al (US 9,269,826).
With respect to claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-13, and 14-16, Hosono discloses in Example 4 an oxide sintered body of empirical formula “InGa(Zn1−xMgxO)4 (0<x<1)”, wherein Ga is the claimed “positive trivalent metal element X” (col. 13, lines 18-25), wherein fig. 4 shows examples of the ‘x’ of the “(0<x<1)” being 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 (col. 3, lines 46-49; col. 13, lines 49-60). As such:
when x =0.4, Ga/(Zn+Mg+Ga) = 0.2 and Mg/(Zn+Mg) = 0.4;
when x = 0.6, Ga/(Zn+Mg+Ga) = 0.2 and Mg/(Zn+Mg) = 0.6; and
when x = 0.6, Ga/(Zn+Mg+Ga) = 0.2 and Mg/(Zn+Mg) = 0.8.
Therefore Hosono teaches an atomic ratio for Ga/(Zn+Mg+Ga) of 0.2 and an atomic ratio of Mg/(Zn+Mg) in a range of 0.4-0.6, 0.4-0.8, or 0.6-0.8.
With respect to claims 5 and 9, the reference Hosono is cited as discussed for claims 1-2 and 6 above. Since Hosono teaches the claim requirements of the oxide sintered body with claimed atomic ratios as claims 1-2 and 6, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established that Hosono also teaches the resulting oxide sintered body having properties of “cubic MgO into which the Zn is solid-solved”, “hexagonal ZnO into which the Mg is solid-solved”, and “the oxide sintered body comprises MgX2O4 into which the Zn is solid-solved”, as evidenced by Applicant’s published Specification (US 2022/0356118) para 0027 stating “When the atomic ratio Mg/(Zn+Mg) is 0.625 or more and 0.8 or less, the oxide sintered body contains cubic MgO into which Zn is solid-solved, and MgX2O4 into which Zn is solid-solved, wherein X is a positive trivalent metal element. When the atomic ratio Mg/(Zn+Mg) is 0.25 or more and less than 0.625, the oxide sintered body contains cubic MgO into which Zn is solid-solved, hexagonal ZnO into which Mg is solid-solved, and MgX2O4 into which Zn is solid-solved, wherein X is a positive trivalent metal element” (MPEP 2112.01, I).
With respect to claim 15, Hosono further discloses the Ga being interchangeable with Al (col. 5, lines 21-30).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s Remarks on p. 5-8 filed 1/9/2026 are addressed below.
112 Rejection
Claim 1 has been amended as supported by para 0023 of the published Specification (see p. 5 Remarks).
103 Rejections
Applicant’s arguments on p. 5-8 with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the new reference Hosono being applied in the current rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL A BAND whose telephone number is (571)272-9815. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm EST.
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/MICHAEL A BAND/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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