DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claims 16-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 16 recites:
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The recitation of the emitter in (i) and (ii) along with the host remain too generic in that the scope encompassed by claim 16 is massive in comparison to the actual examples shown in the specification. Conducting a structural search only limited by
Emitters
substances containing a boron atom materials containing
polycyclic aromatic of heteroaromatic
configured to emit light with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of less than or equal to 0.25 eV; and optionally, at least one thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) material,
Emitter Electric Relationship
at least one emitter has a lowermost excited singlet state energy level E(S1ˢ) and a lowermost excited triplet state energy level E(T1ˢ); and E(T1H) > E(T1P) and E(T1P) > E(S1ˢ).
Host
at least one host material has a lowermost excited singlet state energy level E(S1H) and a lowermost excited triplet state energy level E(T1H);
at least one phosphorescence material has a lowermost excited singlet state energy level E(S1P) and a lowermost excited triplet state energy level E(T1P)
Per MPEP 2163(II)(A)(3)(a)(ii), the written description requirement for a claimed genus may be satisfied through sufficient description of a representative number of species by (A) actual reduction to practice, (B) reduction to drawings, or (C) by disclosure of relevant, identifying characteristics, i.e., structure or other physical and/or chemical properties, by functional characteristics coupled with a known or disclosed correlation between function and structure, or by a combination of such identifying characteristics, sufficient to show the applicant was in possession of the claimed genus. A "representative number of species" means that the species which are adequately described are representative of the entire genus. Thus, when there is substantial variation within the genus, one must describe a sufficient variety of species to reflect the variation within the genus.
Based on the number of material encompassed by the above criteria in comparison to the actual examples supported by the specification:
Applicant has not shown a reasonable (A) actual reduction to practice of the full scope of claim 16.
Applicant has not shown a reasonable (B) reduction to drawings with a reasonable specificity beyond mere broad based generic nomenclature which encompasses a massive number of compound.
Applicant has not shown (C) relevant, identifying characteristics, i.e., structure or other physical and/or chemical properties, by functional characteristics coupled with a known or disclosed correlation between function and structure for one of ordinary skill in the art to selection compounds meeting the recited electronic relationships.
The sum total of factors A through C render the written description insufficient to show that applicant was in full possession of the limitations of claim 16 allowing one of ordinary skill in the art at the filing date to practice the full scope of the invention.
Response to Amendment
Applicants’ amendments are insufficient to compensate for the lack of the written description in the specification. The limited number of examples in the written description do not provide a representative number of species sufficient to show the applicant was in possession of the claimed genus (see MPEP 2163-11-A03-a-ii).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment 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 GREGORY D CLARK whose telephone number is (571)270-7087. The examiner can normally be reached on 8AM-4PM M-F.
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, Jennifer Chriss can be reached on 571-272-7783. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY D CLARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1786
