DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim 1 has been amended. Claims 1-9 are pending and under examination on the merits.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment by Applicants’ representative Michael J. Caridi on 05/29/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments/Amendments
Claim rejection under 35 U.S.C.§103(a)
Applicant amended claim 7 by further limiting the claimed method comprising “mixing powders of LiA, YB3, GdC3, and CaD2 to obtain a material mixture: and heat-treating the material mixture in an inert gas atmosphere, wherein A, B, C, and D are each independently at least one selected from the group consisting of F, Cl, Br, and I”. In addition, Applicant argued that Seetharaman (i.e., U.S. 2015/0203979 A1) does not teach, suggest, or render obvious at least, for example, the features of "mixing powders of LiA, YB3, GdC3, and CaD2 to obtain a material mixture," as recited in amended independent claim 1. Applicant argued that Seetharaman discloses reacting oxides such as Y2O3 and Gd2O3 with AICI3 in a molten salt containing metal chlorides such as LiCI to form YCI and GdCl3 in the molten salt. Seetharaman neither discloses nor suggests mixing Y halide powder and Gd halide powder together with other halide powders, such as Li halide powder (e.g., LiCI powder and/or LiBr powder) and Ca halide powder (e.g., CaCl2 powder and/or CaBr2 powder), as raw materials and then heat-treating the obtained material mixture, as recited in amended claim 1.
Applicant’s amendment and argument have been fully considered, but are not sufficient to overcome the rejection. Amended claim 1 is drawn to a method for producing a halide, the method comprising: mixing powders of LiA, YB3, GdC3, and CaD2 to obtain a material mixture: and heat-treating the material mixture in an inert gas atmosphere, wherein the transition phrase “comprising” is interpreted as an open-ended transition phrase. Therefore, the claimed method does not exclude additional steps in the claimed method. Claim 6 of Seetharaman (i.e., U.S. 2015/0203979 A1) is drawn to a process for recovering at least one rare earth metal (REM) from the group of Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu, said process including the steps of: a) providing a crucible for supporting a salt melt; b) providing a salt melt consisting of (in weight %): 60-99 of a chloride salt composition consisting of at least two metal chlorides selected from the group consisting of chlorides of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, and Ra; 1- 30 of AlCl3 and, optionally <10 of halides, additional chlorides, sulphides and/or oxides; c) providing at least one REM containing resource to the crucible before or after heating to form the salt melt, said REM containing resource including at least one rare earth metal from the group of Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu; d) reacting the aluminium chloride as a chloride donor with at least one rare earth metal of the REM containing resource (e.g., REM oxides) to form at least one rare earth metal chlorides dissolved in the salt melt; and e) maintaining the content of AlCl3 in the salt melt by adding AlCl3 stepwise or continuously as it is consumed or by in-situ formation of AlCl3 in the salt melt; wherein the salt composition essentially consists of by weight % of the salt composition, 35-65 KCl, 20-50 LiCl, 5-20 CaCl2 preferably 45-55 KCl, 30-40 LiCl, 10-15 CaCl2. It should be noted that the step d) would lead to forming a mixture containing at least one REM halide including Y and Gd, which are YB3 and GdC3 wherein B and C are halides of F, Cl, Br, and I after reacting the aluminium chloride as a chloride donor with at least one rare earth metal of the REM containing resource; and in addition with 30-40 wt% LiCl, 10-15 wt% CaCl2, as well as the disclosure in the Seetharaman specification preferably at the heating temperature 580-650 °C, see paragraphs [0032, and 0034-0036]. Therefore, Seetharaman including claims 6 (steps a-e) and paragraphs [0032, and 0034-0036] would have rendered amended claims 1-9 obvious. The rejection is maintained.
Conclusions
Claims 1-9 are rejected.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Telephone Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Yong L. Chu, whose telephone number is (571)272-5759. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:30am-5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amber R. Orlando can be reached on 571-270-3149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
/YONG L CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1731
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