DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 January 27, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
The Applicant’s remarks with respect to claims #1-3, 5-11, 13, and 29-34 in the reply filed on January 27, 2026 have been carefully considered, but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. § 112(b)
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-11, 13, and 29-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 112, 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 pre-AIA the applicant, regards as the invention.
As to claims 1 and 6, it is unclear what is meant by “an element having a concentration higher than concentrations of aluminum (Al) and oxygen (O) is not present among elements contained in the aluminum oxide film”. If an element is not present among elements contained in the aluminum oxide film then it is unclear how this element is relevant to the invention. Is the element even present in the aluminum oxide film? Applicant’s published specification paragraphs [0056] and [0060] do not clarify this issue.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: the relationship between the element having a concentration higher than concentrations of Al and O and the [other] elements contained in the aluminum oxide film and the aluminum oxide film itself.
No Prior Art Applied
The Examiner was unable to find prior art applicable to the claims as presently written in view of the very unclear claim language.
Conclusion
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/SUBERR L CHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893