DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claims 1-11 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 is not clear as it recites formula a
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that may be reduced to one of the following formulae:
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,
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, and
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.
The recitation is confusing because one would normally assume that, in formula a, each of R1, R2 and R3 is bonded to a carbon atom. That is, formula a must have at least 6 fused rings, and none of X1-4 can be R16, which is defined as a monovalent group, including hydrogen atom. The other claims are indefinite by dependency. In addition, claim 3 is unclear because it recites chemical structures that have missing bonds, such as in H22-H24, H40, H57 and EH19 (among others), or are illegible, such as PH61-PH70 and PH120 (among many others).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2 and 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 113024529 Wang et al. (see attached machine-generated English-language translation).
Regarding claim 1, Wang et al. discloses an OLED comprising the following compound as a host material in the light-emitting layer (see [0023]-[0024])
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which is representative of the claimed compound wherein A is formula a1 in claim 2 with R1 being a phenyl group, L is a single bond, B is formula b wherein R17 is an aryl group and R18 is a heterocyclic group. Claims 1 and 2 are therefore anticipated. See MPEP § 2131.02(II). The features of claims 4-6 are also disclosed.
Claims 1-2 and 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 114702484 A to Su et al. (see attached machine-generated English-language translation).
Regarding claim 1, Su et al. discloses an OLED comprising the following compound (see compound 9),
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which is representative of the claimed compound. Claims 1 and 2 are therefore anticipated. The compound may be included in the light-emitting layer ([0026]). Thus, claim 4 is anticipated. The features of claim 5 are disclosed in paragraph [0024].
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 114014851 A to Li et al. (see attached machine-generated English-language translation).
Regarding claim 1, Li et al. discloses an OLED comprising the following compound
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This compound is representative of the claimed compound and claims 1-2 are therefore anticipated.
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.
Claims 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 113024529 Wang et al. in view of US 9,059,430 B2 to Seo et al.
Wang et al. discloses the organic light emitting element of claims 1 and 6, as explained above, but fails to disclose the multi-host structure of claim 7 or the stacked structure of claim 8. However, Seo et al. discloses an organic light emitting element comprising a stack of two light-emitting layers between two electrodes wherein each light-emitting layer includes a phosphorescent dopant, a hole-transporting host material and an electron-transporting host material, and wherein the two host materials form an exciplex and the device exhibits a high external quantum efficiency and a long lifetime (see the abstract). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the instant invention was filed to modify the organic light emitting element disclosed by Wang et al. in the manner suggested by Seo et al. so as to optimize the efficiency and lifetime of the device. Claims 7-11 are therefore unpatentable for being obvious. See MPEP § 2143(I)(A).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 would be allowable if rewritten 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 and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: There is not an obvious reason for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the compound disclosed by Wang et al., Su et al. or Li et al. to arrive at the organic light emitting element of claim 3.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VU ANH NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5454. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ROBERT JONES can be reached at (571) 270-7733. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VU A NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1762