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 .
Claim Status
The Amendment filed on 29 June 2026 has been entered; claims 1-7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, and 30-35 remain pending.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 19 July 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Pages 6-8 of the Remarks, filed 29 June 2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-3, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, and 32-35 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claims 1-3, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, and 32-35 under 35 USC 103 have been withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendments to the claims.
Applicant's arguments, see Pages 8-10 of the Remarks, filed 29 June 2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 4-7, 30, and 31 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive, for the same reasons as discussed in the Advisory Action mailed on 08 July 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 4-7, 30, and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2020/124130 in view of U.S. Patent # 5536416, hereinafter “WO (‘130)” and US (‘416)”.
With respect to claims 4-7, WO (‘130) teaches that aluminum and iron can be recovered by a precipitation step (Paragraph [0025]) via addition of a base including ammonia (“ammonium hydroxide”), lime, or limestone (“an alkaline material”) (Paragraph [0027]), forming an aluminum- and iron-poor solution which is not lithium depleted, but does not specifically teach forming the lithium salts as claimed.
US (‘416) teaches forming lithium silicate precipitates (see Claim 22, step (a)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form lithium silicate precipitates as taught by US (‘416) in addition to or instead of lithium carbon precipitates as taught by WO (‘130) because WO (‘130) teaches that other means for precipitating and recovering lithium products known to those skilled in the art may be used without deviating from the scope of the present invention (Paragraph [0341]), and because US (‘416) teaches that lithium precipitates from metal-containing solutions as a silicate in applications directed to metals removal from aqueous solutions.
With respect to claims 30 and 31, WO (‘130) teaches removing ammonium sulfate from the lithium free solution (“salt removal process”) via crystallization/evaporation of water (Paragraphs [00342, 00343]), considered to be consistent with “removal of at least some acid”, as water (containing at least some hydrogen and hydronium ions) is removed, and because washing steps are conducted (effectively diluting the filtrate).
WO (‘130) teaches additional treatments which remove aluminum and iron hydroxides (“salt removal”) via precipitation with addition of ammonium hydroxide following the first extraction of metals step (which is copper- see Paragraph [0094], and see Paragraphs [00150-00155]), wherein the “ammonium hydroxide” is considered to be an “acid removing agent” which raises the pH to a range of 4.5 to 6 (“no greater than 8.0”) (see Paragraph [00155]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, and 32-35 are allowed pending resolution of the rejections under 35 USC 112(b) set forth above, as none of the prior art teaches the methods of claims 1 and 33.
The Examiner acknowledges Yang et al. (International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials, 2012, 19, 290-294), in which is disclosed extraction of lithium and magnesium ions from a brine, wherein the aluminum hydroxide sorbent (Abstract; Sections 2.1, 2.2) extracts the metals in one extraction stage (see Section 2.4 and especially last paragraph before Section 3. Conclusion); however, Yang teaches solid state extraction (as opposed to the recited solvent extraction), and does not teach contacting the metal poor solution with a lithium salt forming agent to form a lithium poor solution.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLARE M PERRIN whose telephone number is (571)270-5952. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-6PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bob Ramdhanie can be reached at (571) 270-3240. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CLARE M. PERRIN/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1779
/CLARE M PERRIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1779 31 July 2026
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