DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 2/9/2026 for US Patent Application No. 18/033498 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 1-18 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
The 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) rejections and the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections presented in the office action dated 11/12/2025 are withdrawn in view of Applicant’s amendments.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1, Lines 3-4 recite the limitation “to manufacture an electrode stack to prepare an electrode stack”. The aforementioned limitation appears to be unclear.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 12 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dougherty et al. (US 2011/0059340 A1), herein referred to as Dougherty.
With respect to claims 12 and 18, Dougherty teaches (Figures 1 and 2) an electrode assembly 10 comprising a plurality of alternately stacked electrodes 12 and separators 22. A periphery portion of the separators is sealed (represented by the curved end sections of the separators) such that the ends of the separators are folded inwards (predetermined directionality). Dougherty further teaches [0042] the electrode assembly is contained in a housing (pouch).
With respect to the limitations recited in claim 12 directed to the use of the sealing unit for forming the sealed portion of separators, Examiner notes the sealing unit limitations are product-by-process limitations and do not further limit the structural limitations of the electrode assembly.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 1-11 are now considered to be allowable. Applicant’s amendments to independent claims 1 and 5 overcome the prior art rejections based on Yamada.
Claims 13-17 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEWART A FRASER whose telephone number is (571)270-5126. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7am-4pm, EST.
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/STEWART A FRASER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1724
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