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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/12/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1, 11, 13-16, 19, 26, 30, and 31 are amended and claim 18 is cancelled due to the applicant's amendment.
Claims 1-17 and 19-31 are pending.
The declaration under 37 CFR 1.132 filed 05/12/2026 is sufficient to overcome the rejection of claims 1-2, 4-11, and 13-31 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xia et al. US-20190181349-A1 in view of Pflumm et al. US-20160190447-A1 as set forth in the previous Office action.
However, as outlined below, a new ground of rejection of claim 19 has been made under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Response to Arguments
The applicant’s arguments on pages 101-110 of the reply dated 05/12/2026 with respect to the rejection of claims 1-2, 4-11, and 13-31 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xia et al. US-20190181349-A1 in view of Pflumm et al. US-20160190447-A1 as set forth in the previous Office Action have been fully considered and are persuasive with respect to the argument of unexpected results. The rejection has been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 19, the claim recites variables L-0, L-1, and L-4; however, these are not defined in the claims and therefore the claim is indefinite because it is unclear what these variable represent.
For purposes of examination, the claim will be interpreted such that variables L-0, L-1, and L-4 are defined as recited in specification paragraph [0094] on page 63 of the specification dated 10/28/2025.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-17 and 20-31 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The closest prior art, exemplified by Xia et al. US-20190181349-A1, teaches light-emitting device, which comprises a compound having a Formula 1 (¶ [0018]) in a hole injection layer (¶ [0032], ¶ [0100]), and Xia teaches examples of the compound of Formula 1 in paragraph [0088] including, for example,
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(page 9).
However, Xia does not specifically disclose a compound of the claimed Formula 1 wherein the position corresponding to X1 and X4 in Xia's Formula 1 are each N instead of C and Xia does not teach a device as discussed above wherein the hole injection layer further comprises a second compound of the claimed Formula 2. Further, the prior art does not provide a reason to modify the device of Xia such that the hole injection layer further comprises a second compound of the claimed Formula 2 to arrive at the claimed device in view of the unexpected results demonstrated by data in the specification and the declaration under 37 CFR 1.132 filed 05/12/2026.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
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.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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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