Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/015,993

POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC DERIVATIVE COMPOUND AND ORGANIC LIGHT-EMITTING ELEMENT USING THE SAME

Non-Final OA §102§112
Filed
Jan 13, 2023
Examiner
CHANDHOK, JENNA N
Art Unit
1789
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
Sfc Co. Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
52%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
4y 1m
To Grant
83%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 52% of resolved cases
52%
Career Allow Rate
110 granted / 211 resolved
-12.9% vs TC avg
Strong +31% interview lift
Without
With
+31.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
4y 1m
Avg Prosecution
66 currently pending
Career history
277
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.2%
-39.8% vs TC avg
§103
52.5%
+12.5% vs TC avg
§102
14.9%
-25.1% vs TC avg
§112
23.1%
-16.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 211 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
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. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. Priority Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Korea on July 24, 2020 . Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e). Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application. Status of Claims This action is in reply to the communication filed on January 13, 2023 . Claim s 1 – 9 are currently pending and have been examined. Information Disclosure Statement The references provided in the Information Disclosure Statement filed on January 13, 2023, June 4, 2024 and J anuary 3, 2025 have been considered. S igned cop ies of the corresponding 1449 form s ha ve been included with this office action. Drawings The drawings are objected to because under CFR 1.84(u), “Where only a single view is used in an application to illustrate the claimed invention, it must not be numbered and the abbreviation “FIG.” must not appear. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance. Specification The disclosure is objected to because in accordance with the drawing objection presented above, all mentions to FIG. 1 should be deleted and instead replaced with the words “the FIGURE.” Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a): (a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112: The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. Claim s 1 – 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), first paragraph, because the specification, while being enabling for R definitions other than hydrogen and deuterium and dotted lines being single bonds , does not reasonably provide enablement for R groups being hydrogen or deuterium or the dotted lines represented double bonds . The specification does not enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the invention commensurate in scope with these claims. Case law holds that applicant' s specification must be “commensurately enabling [regarding the scope of the claims]” Ex Parte Kung, 17 USPQ2d 1545, 1547 (Bd. Pat. App. Inter. 1990). Otherwise, undue experimentation would be involved in determining how to practice and use applicant' s invention. The test for undue experimentation as to whether or not [Claimed Feature] within the scope of the claims can be used [meet the claim requirements] as claimed and whether the claims meet the test is stated in Ex parte Forman, 230 USPQ 546, 547 (Bd. Pat. App. Inter. 1986) and In re Wands, 8 USPQ2d 1400, 1404 ( Fed.Cir . 1988). Upon applying this test to claims 1 – 9 , it is believed that undue experimentation would be required because: (A) Breadth of the claims: ( B) Nature of the invention: (C) State of the prior art: (D) The level of one of ordinary skill: (E) The level of predictability in the art: (F) Amount of direction provided: (G) The existence of working examples: (H) The quantity of experimentation needed to make or use the invention based on the content of the disclosure:. Claim 1 requires a compound of Formula A or Formula B , wherein Y 1 to Y 6 are defined as being selected from N-R 1 , CR 2 R 3 , O, S, Se, and SiR 4 R 5 . R 1 to R 5 are defined as being s elected from hydrogen, deuterium… Claim 1 further states “with the proviso that R 1 to R 5 are bonded to each other or are each linked to an adjacent substituent to further form an alicyclic or aromatic monocyclic or polycyclic ring and are bonded to the Q1 to Q2 ring to further form an alicyclic or aromatic monocyclic or polycyclic ring. ” Applicant has not provided any examples of an R group containing hydrogen or deuterium being linked to further form a ring as required by the claim (Wands Factors (F) and (G)). Furthermore, hydrogen and deuterium contain only one valence electron, which is generally understood to limit its bonding to one group. It is unclear how either of these atoms could be bonded to more than one group to create the ring system claimed (Wands Factors (C), (D), (E)). Additionally, claim 1 recites that dotted lines represent a single bond or a double bond according to the definition of Y 1 to Y 6 . However, in the definitions of Y 1 to Y 6 , all the atoms are saturated. It is unclear how the atoms could take on an extra bond from a double bond (such as 5 bonds) in the carbon atom or 4 bonds in the nitrogen atom of a neutral compound (Wands Factors (C), (D), (E)) . Applicant has not provided any examples of a N-R 1 , CR 2 R 3 , O, S, Se, and SiR 4 R 5 atom in a ring with at least one double bond (Wands Factors (F) and (G)) . Claims 2 – 9 are rejected as being dependent on claim 1. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d): (d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.— Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers. The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph: Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 3 is dependent on claim 1 . Claim 1 requires a compound of Formula A or Formula B , wherein Y 1 to Y 6 are defined as being selected from N-R 1 , CR 2 R 3 , O, S, Se, and SiR 4 R 5 . Claim 1 further states “with the proviso that R 1 to R 5 are bonded to each other or are each linked to an adjacent substituent to further form an alicyclic or aromatic monocyclic or polycyclic ring and are bonded to the Q1 to Q2 ring to further form an alicyclic or aromatic monocyclic or polycyclic ring. However, compounds of claim 3, such as contain R groups that are not bonded to each other or linked to an adjacent substituent as required by the claim. Furthermore, all of the three above compounds are also outside the scope of claim 1 because they each contain 2 CR groups, they do not contain the saturated CR 2 R 3 groups provided in the definition for Y 1 to Y 6 as the only option for carbon atoms. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements. For examination purposes, claim 3 has been examined as an independent claim. 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. (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Suh (WO2019164331A1, using US20210184121A1 as the official English language translation) . As per claim 3, Suh teaches: A compound selected from the group consisting of … (Suh teaches compound in [0100]. This is the same compound as compound 20.) Conclusion All claims are rejected. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT JENNA N CHANDHOK whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-5780 . The examiner can normally be reached on FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday through Friday from 6:30 - 3:30 . 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, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Marla McConnell can be reached on FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-270-7692 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JENNA N CHANDHOK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 13, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 27, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §112 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
52%
Grant Probability
83%
With Interview (+31.0%)
4y 1m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 211 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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