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
Claims 23-31 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/10/2026.
Claims 16-22 are pending examination.
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.
Claim(s) 16-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fang et. al “Synthesis and Characterization of a New Triple-layered Perovskite KSr2Nb3010 and Its Protonated Compounds “ Journal of Wuhan University of Technology - Mater. Sci. Ed. 2002, Vol 17, No. 2.
Regarding Claim 16 and 22, Fang teaches the synthesis of HSr2Nb3O10 compounds (both a hydrous and anhydrous structure) by ion-exchange from a KSr2Nb3O10 parent compound [Sec. 2.1, synthesis Pg. 2]. Fang teaches that the HSr2Nb3O10 compound has a non-zero amount of K+ in the material [Sec. 2.1, synthesis Pg. 2]. Fang teaches that the a and b cell parameters axes are isostructural for KSr2Nb3O10 and HSr2Nb3O10 but that the c axes interlayer spacing differs [Pg. 3, Col. 2, Para. 1 below table 3]. Accordingly, it is understood that as the amount of potassium is non-zero in the layered niobate perovskite such that both KSr2Nb3O10 and HSr2Nb3O10 are present in the system, that the spacing between layers is different.
Regarding Claim 17, Fang teaches that the synthesis of the [Sr2Nb3O10]- compounds interleaved with K+, H30+ or H+ are Dion-Jacobson type perovskites [Sec. 4].
Regarding Claim 18-21, Fang teaches the niobate perovskite composition of Claim 1. Accordingly, as the courts have broadly held that where the structure of a composition is the same, then the properties must thereby be the same [MPEP 2112 II], it is understood that the properties of the composition recited in Claims 18-21 are therefore disclosed by the teaching of Fang.
Conclusion
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NATHANAEL JASON. DOWNES
Examiner
Art Unit 1794
/NATHANAEL JASON DOWNES/Examiner, Art Unit 1794
/BRIAN W COHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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