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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 14-33 are pending wherein claims 1-13 have been preliminarily canceled and claims 14-33 have been preliminarily added.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101/112
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
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 32-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is not supported by either a well asserted utility or a well-established utility.
In regard to claims 32-33, the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the four categories consist of composition, article of manufacture, apparatus and method and “the use of” or “Use of” would not fall into one of those four categories.
Claims 32-33 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph. Specifically, because the claimed invention is not supported by either a well asserted utility or a well-established utility for the reasons set forth above, one skilled in the art clearly would not know how to use the claimed invention.
In regard to claims 32-33, it is unclear what scope “the use of the copper alloy” would encompass or not encompass and therefore the scope of the claim is indefinite.
Still regarding claims 32-33, The term “high” in “high temperature resistant” in claims 32-33 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “high” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-31 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In regard to claim 14, the closest prior art to claim 14 is Tsuneaki et al. (CN ‘588) which teaches a copper base alloy consisting of 0.1 to 5 mass percent chromium, 0.1 to 5 mass percent titanium, 0.1 to 5 mass percent zirconium, and 0.001 to 2 mass percent of rare earth elements (page 8 of Translation document). However, while this range encompasses the range of claim 14, claim 14 distinguishes from Tsuneaki et al. (CN ‘588) because the proportion of rare earth metal is specified in that of that 0.02 to 0.3 mass percent, 88 to 93 percent of that would be lanthanum, 6 to 9 percent would be cerium and neodymium would be less than or equal to 0.3 percent (by mass).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Baoqiang et al. (Fabrication of homogenous Mo-Cu composites using spherical molybdenum powders prepared by thermal plasma spheroidization process) teaches plasma spheroidizing alloys containing copper).
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/JESSEE R ROE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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