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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Korea on 2021-10-25. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the 10-2021-0143043 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on each of 09/15/2022 and 08/28/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 13 objected to because of the following informalities:
in claims 1 and 13, the subscripts in the structure of Formula 1 are of poor resolution.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-8, 10-17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin et al. CN-111138393-A (hereinafter "Lin-CN" and see English language machine translation referred to herein as "Lin-MT").
Lin et al. CN-111138393-A is cited on the IDS of 09/15/2022.
Regarding claims 1-8, 10-11, 13-17, and 19, Lin teaches an organic light emitting device comprising an organic layer between an anode and a cathode wherein the organic layer comprises an aromatic amine compound of a formula (I) (Lin-MT, page 2 of 18, lines 6-7 and 14-15; page 5 of 18, lines 1-2) having structure
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(Lin-CN, page 8). Lin teaches wherein the device comprises an electron transport region between the cathode and the light emitting layer (Lin-MT, page 5 of 18, lines 3-6) and a hole transport region between the anode and the light emitting layer comprising a hole injection layer and a hole transporting layer (Lin-MT, page 5 of 18, lines 3-9), wherein the hole transport layer may comprise a first hole transport layer and a second hole transporting layer, and wherein either may comprise the arylamine compound (Lin-MT, page 5 of 18, lines 16-21). Lin teaches examples of the arylamine compound of formula (I) including compounds 7 and 8
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(Lin-CN, page 12). Line teaches that the device may comprise a covering layer on the cathode which may comprise the arylamine compound (Lin-MT, page 5 of 18 lines 34-36) and teaches arylamine compounds having a refractive index of more than 1.6 (Lin-MT, page 15 of 18, lines 3-7 and Lin-CN, Table 1). Lin teaches that the main body of the light emitting layer may be preferably EPH (page 5 of 18, line 22), which has the structure
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(Lin-CN, page 32) and is a compound of the claimed Formula E-1. Lin teaches the device possessing low driving voltage (Lin-CN, page 2 of 18, lines 8-9), and good luminous efficiency (Lin-CN, page 2 of 18, lines 10-11).
Lin does not exemplify a compound that meets the claimed Formula I. For example, the compounds 7 and 8 differ from the claimed compound in that the position corresponding to Ar1/Ar2 in the general formula of Lin is a phenyl instead of a naphthyl group.
However, Lin teaches the position corresponding to Ar1/Ar2 may be preferably selected as a naphthyl group (Lin-MT, page 3 of 18, lines 21-22 and Lin-CN, page 9, [0033]-[0034]).
Therefore, given the general formula and teachings of Lin, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute one of Ar1/Ar2 with a naphthyl group, because Lin teaches the variable may suitably be selected as such. The substitution would have been one known element for another and one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art would reasonably expect the predictable result that the modified compound would be useful in the hole transport region of the device of Lin and possess the benefits as described above taught by Lin. See MPEP § 2143.I.(B).
The modified compound meets the claimed Formula I and Formula 1-1 wherein:
Ar1 is a substituted aryl group having 6 ring-forming carbon atoms (a substituted phenyl group);
R1 and R2 are each hydrogen and R3 and R4 are each a single bond forming a ring by bonding with a group represented by Formula 2 and 2-1;
X is O;
R5 to R9 are each hydrogen and R10 to R12 are not required to be present;
a and b are 2;
c and d are 7; and
e is 4.
Therefore, the device comprising the modified compounds meets claims 1-8, 11, 13-17, and 19.
Regarding claims 12 and 20, Lin teaches the device comprising the modified compound as discussed above with respect to claims 1 and 13.
Lin does not exemplify one of the compounds list in claims 12 and 20. For example, the modified compound 8 differs from the claimed compound 49
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in that the position corresponding to L1/L2 in the in the general formula of Lin is a phenyl instead of single bond (that is, n1/n2 as 0).
However, Lin teaches n1 and n2 may be 0 or 1 which would make L1/L2 a single bond (Lin-MT, page 2 of 18, lines 19-20).
Therefore, given the general formula and teachings of Lin, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the position corresponding to L1/L2 in the in the general formula of Lin with a single bond (such that n1/n2 is 0), because Lin teaches the variable may suitably be selected as such. The substitution would have been one known element for another and one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art would reasonably expect the predictable result that the modified compound would be useful in the hole transport region of the device of Lin and possess the benefits as described above taught by Lin. See MPEP § 2143.I.(B).
Claims 9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin et al. CN-111138393-A (hereinafter "Lin-CN" and see English language machine translation referred to herein as "Lin-MT") as applied to claims 1 and 13, respectively, and further in view of Li et al. US-20020076576-A1 (hereinafter "Li").
Regarding claim 9 and 18, Lin teaches the device comprising the modified compound as discussed above with respect to claims 1 and 13.
Li teaches that a deuterated organic system has better thermal stability, and longer lifetime in optoelectronic devices (¶ [0009]) and deuterated organic semiconductor materials exhibit improved performance including brighter luminescence, better thermal stability, and longer lifetime compared to non-deuterated organic semiconductor materials (Abstract, ¶ [0023], and [0077]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the compound Lin to include at least one deuterium, based on the teachings of Li. The motivation for doing so would have been to obtain brighter luminescence, better thermal stability, and longer lifetime, as taught by Li.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: KR-20210061254-A cited on the IDS of 08/28/2025 teaches amine compounds comprising naphthalene and dibenzoheterole moieties including compounds P-2 and P-11 (page 36).
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.
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/ELIZABETH M. DAHLBURG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1786