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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group II, Claims 5-8, in the reply filed on 4 December 2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the grounds that no search burden exists. This is not found persuasive because this restriction was made according to 371 practice in view of the common technical feature, rather than a search burden.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 5, 6, 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2008/0193360 A1 to Holbrook et al. (Holbrook) in view of JP 2012-184132 A to Masuda et al. (Masuda).
As to claims 5, 6, 7 and 8, Holbrook teaches a membrane electrode assembly comprising a cathode catalyst layer (nitrogen dissociating electrocatalyst (23 in specification/21 in figure)) and an anode catalyst layer (water dissociating electrocatalyst (22)) and an electrolyte membrane (2) sandwiched between the layers and bonded thereto, wherein the cathode catalyst layer comprises a cathode solid catalyst such as platinum metal and the anode catalyst layer containing an anode solid catalyst such as platinum metal (Paragraphs 0029 and 0030; Figure 2).
However, Holbrook fails to further teach that the catholyte catalyst layer comprises a molecular catalyst. However, Masuda also discusses an electrochemical device for the generation of ammonia from nitrogen with the hydrogen coming from water with, for example, a platinum containing cathode, as in Holbrook, and teaches that an improved catalyst in terms of preventing a hydrogen gas byproduct comprising forming the cathode such that is comprises an immobilized catalyst comprising, for example, titancene dichloride (bis(cyclopentadienyl)titanium dichloride) or zirconocene dichloride (bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium dichloride), each a metallocene compound that is a nitrogen complex in which nitrogen molecules are coordinated with the center metal of the catalyst (Paragraphs 0013-0016, 0025, 0027, 0052, 0053 and 0062).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the cathode catalyst layer of Holbrook with the addition of a molecular catalyst such as titancene dichloride (bis(cyclopentadienyl)titanium dichloride) or zirconocene dichloride (bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium dichloride), each a metallocene compound that is a nitrogen complex in which nitrogen molecules are coordinated with the center metal of the catalyst, in order to improve the catalyst in terms of preventing a hydrogen gas byproduct as taught by Masuda.
Conclusion
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/CIEL P CONTRERAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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