DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The following is in reply to the applicants submission (e.g. amendment, remarks, etc.) filed on February 2, 2026.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1 through 3 and 5 through 11 continue to remain as being withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on February 2, 2026. Rejoinder is not possible at this time, as the product and/or composition (e.g. Claim 12) is not found to be allowable for the following reasons.
Specification
The objections to the specification in the previous office action1 have been withdrawn in light of the amendments to the Title and Abstract.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) in the previous office action has been withdrawn in light of the amendments to the claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicants arguments filed as part of their submission with respect to Claim 12 have been fully considered, but are now moot because the following new grounds of rejections do not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. The applicants remarks with respect to Claims 13 through 15 and 17, stand or fall together with Claim 12.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 12, 15 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication 2016/0024317 to Hayata et al (hereinafter “Hayata”) in view of U.S. Publication 2020/0095442 to Yedidya (hereinafter “Yedidya”) and U.S. Publication 2010/0178420 to Lee et al (hereinafter “Lee”).
Claim 12: Hayata discloses a metal ion solution comprising:
a source of copper (II) ions;
a reducing agent of formic acid; and
water (e.g. ¶ [0110]).
Claim 15: Hayata discloses the metal ion solution according to claim 12, wherein the source of copper (II) ions comprises copper acetate (e.g. ¶ [0110]).
The purpose of the metal ion solution of Hayata is to form a conductor (e.g. ¶ [0009]). Hayata does not teach that the reducing agent includes L-ascorbic acid, or that the metal ion solution consists of just the source of Cu (II) ions, L-ascorbic acid, formic acid, and water.
Yedidya discloses that a metal ion solution made of Cu can be used to form a conductor (e.g. ¶¶ [0023], [0024]). The metal ion solution can consist of water (e.g. ¶ [0029]), just one source of Cu (II) ions (e.g. Cu (II) acetate, ¶ [0032]), and that the reducing agent can consists of just two of formic acid and ascorbic acid (e.g. ¶ [0033]).
Lee discloses that L-ascorbic acid can be used as a reducing agent in a metal ion solution that forms an electrical conductor (e.g. ¶ [0023]).
Claim 17: Lee disclose that the metal ion solution that includes L-ascorbic acid is a reducing agent.
Hayata, Yedidya, and Lee are analogous to one another in that each form a metal ion solution that includes a source of metal ions, water and a reducing agent for the purpose of forming an electrical conductor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the metal ion solution of Hayata by utilizing the components that consists just of the source of Cu (II) ions, reducing agent, and water, taught by Yedidya, to form an art-recognized equivalent metal ion solution known for having the very same purpose (e.g. electrical conductor). MPEP § 2144.06.
Within the modified metal ion solution of Hayata, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have substituted the L-ascorbic acid of Lee for the ascorbic acid of Yedidya, to form an equivalent reducing agent within the metal ion solution to ultimately achieve the same purpose in forming an equivalent electrical conductor.
Claims 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayata in view of Yedidya and Lee, as applied to Claim 12 above, and further in view of U.S. Publication 2020/0376546 to Yonezawa et al (hereinafter “Yonezawa”) and U.S. Publication 2018/0073105 to Chen et al (hereinafter “Chen”).
Hayata, as modified by Yedidya and Lee, discloses the claimed metal ion solution. The modified Hayata solution does not mention what the actual content is for the source of Cu (II) ions and the L-ascorbic acid.
Yonezawa discloses a metal ion solution to form an electrical conductor (e.g. ¶ [0003]) that includes a source of Cu ions where the content can be in a range of 0.01 mol/L to 5 mol/L (e.g. ¶¶ [0056], [0057]).
Chen discloses a metal ion solution to form an electrical conductor (e.g. ¶ [0003]) that includes a reducing agent of ascorbic acid, where the content ascorbic acid can be 0.5 mol/L (e.g. ¶¶ [0019], [0083]).
Yonezawa and Chen are analogous to Hayata in that each disclose a metal ion solution for the same purpose of forming an electrical conductor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the content of the metal ion solution of Hayata for the source of Cu (II) ions and L-ascorbic acid, by utilizing the content taught by Yonezawa and Chen, respectively, to achieve an art-recognized equivalent metal ion solution having the same known purpose (e.g. electrical conductor). MPEP § 2144.06.
In utilizing the content values for Chen (e.g. 0.5 mol/L for L-ascorbic acid) and Yonezawa (e.g. 0.25 mol/L or 0.17 mol/L for source of Cu (II) ions), it would be obvious that the proportion of L-ascorbic acid to Cu (II)ions would be 2:1 or 3:1, respectively.
Conclusion
Applicants amendment filed as part of their submission has 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to A. DEXTER TUGBANG whose telephone number is (571)272-4570. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JESSICA HAN can be reached at (571) 272-2078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/A. DEXTER TUGBANG/ Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2896
1 Non-Final action, mailed on October 2, 2025.