DETAILED ACTION
Examiner’s Note
This office action is in response to applicants’ amendments to the claims and remarks filed November 12, 2025. Claims 1, 4, 6, and 8-21 are pending with claims 15-17 and 19-20 being withdrawn as directed o non-elected subject matter.
Election/Restrictions
This application distinguishes over the prior art and is near being in condition for allowance. Should applicants resole the objections and rejections set forth below this application would be otherwise in condition for allowance except for the presence of claims 15-17 and 19 directed to an invention non-elected with traverse in the reply filed on July 31, 2024. Applicant is given TWO (2) MONTHS from the date of this letter to cancel the noted claims or take other appropriate action (37 CFR 1.144). Failure to take action during this period will be treated as authorization to cancel the noted claims by Examiner’s Amendment and pass the case to issue. Extensions of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) will not be permitted since this application will be passed to issue.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to becase it does not end in a period. “Each claim begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. Periods may not be used elsewhere in the claims except for abbreviations.” MPEP 608.01(m).
Claim 21 is objected to for a typographical error. Claim 18 establishes a “microstructure” however claim 21 references “micro structure” which includes a space. For consistency “micro structure” should be amended to be one word “microstructure”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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.
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.
Claims 1, 4, 6, 8-14, and 21 are 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.
Claim 1 sets forth a steel sheet “including a microstructure composed of ferrite and low martensite,” and further limits the steel by an interface hardness difference between “ferrite and low martensite”, however because applicants’ previously established a microstructure with ferrite and low martensite. It is unclear if applicants intend to further limit the ferrite and low martensite previously established, or establish additional microstructure i.e. do applicants intend to further limit the ferrite and the low martensite already established within the clam? Applicants further limit the fraction of ferrite and low martensite without directly referencing the ferrite and low martensite established earlier in the claim. What ferrite and low martensite do applicants intend to further limit. Applicants may consider referencing the ferrite and the low martensite previously established in the claim.
Claims 4, 6, 9, and 18 limit “ferrite and low martensite” without directly referencing the previously established microstructure in claim 1 as discussed above with respect to claim 1.
Claim 8 refences “the second low hardness martensite” however there is no antecedent basis in the claims for a “second low hardness martensite”. It is noted that this was previously established by claim 7 which was previously canceled.
Claim 21 sets forth ferrite and low martensite fractions overlapping the fractions established in parent claim 18. Because claim 21 further limits the area fraction to values outside the scope of parent claim 18, the scope of microstructure in claim 21 is unclear. Correction is required.
Claims 4, 6, 8-14 and 21 are rejected as depending on one or more claims rejected above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4, 6, and 8-14, would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Ahn et al. (PGPub US 2020/0347476) discloses a cold-rolled high-strength steel sheet comprising compositional proportions that overlap applicants’ claimed proportions (paragraph 0029 and 0102). The steel includes a ferrite area fraction overlapping applicants’ claimed area fraction (0126 and Table 3). Ahn et al. further disclose reducing the hardness between phases of the ferrite and martensite (paragraph 078), however Ahn et al. do not disclose a specific hardness difference nor disclose a low martensite having a hardness in a range of 3.5 to 4.5 GPa. While both steel sheets are formed by cold-rolling the process is not found to be identical or substantially identical to the process disclosed by applicants, specifically the multi-stage cooling and over-aging heat-treatment. Absent a substantially identical process one of ordinary skill in the art would not have a reasonable expectation that the microstructure of Ahn et al. would exhibit a hardness profile as claimed.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments filed November 12, 2025 have been considered and have been found to be persuasive. The rejections over Minami et al. are withdrawn and an updated search has been conducted. No new prior art rejections are entered however new grounds of objection and rejection have been identified and are set forth above. Given that the new grounds were not necessitated by applicants’ amendments to the claims this office action is made NON-FINAL.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM C KRUPICKA whose telephone number is (571)270-7086. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8-5pm EST.
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/Adam Krupicka/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1784