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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pre-appeal request, filed 4/15/25, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-4 under Goto 2018/0274703 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Goto 2018/0274703 in view of Goto 10,012,332 and further in view of Nunez 8,535,762.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goto 2018/0274703 in view of Goto 10,012,332 and further in view of Nunez 8,535,762.
In regard to claim 1, Goto discloses an oil-well metal pipe, comprising:
a pipe main body including a first end portion and a second end portion,
wherein:
the pipe main body includes:
a pin 5 formed at the first end portion, and
a box 8 formed at the second end portion;
the pin includes:
a pin contact surface 10 which at least has an external thread part 4 formed on an outer peripheral surface of the first end portion of the pipe main body;
the box includes:
a box contact surface 13 which at least has an internal thread part 7 formed on an inner peripheral surface of the second end portion of the pipe main body;
a plating layer (see table 3 and paragraph 104) is formed on a first contact surface 10, the first contact surface being one of the pin contact surface and the box contact surface;
a solid lubricant layer 21 is formed on the plating layer; and
Goto ‘703 discloses applying a solid corrosion protective coating to the box threads and also applying a liquid anti-rust coating on the solid lubricant coating (see paragraph 76), but does not specifically disclose applying a liquid anti-rust coating to the box threads. Goto ‘332 teaches applying either an anti-rust liquid lubricating coating, a solid corrosion protective coating, or a multi-layered coating comprising a combination of the two is common and well known in the art (see col. 9, lines 4-10. The liquid lubricating coating is considered to be an anti-rust liquid lubricating coating because it contains oil, which acts as an anti-rust coating). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply an anti-rust coating to the solid lubricant coating of Goto ‘703, as taught by Goto ‘332 because inasmuch as the references disclose these elements as art recognized equivalents, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute one for the other. In re Fout, 675 F.2d 297, 301, 213 USPQ 532, 536 (CCPA 1982).
Goto ‘703 discloses preparing the contact surfaces with a surface roughness of 3 to 5 µm, but does not specifically disclose if the roughness value disclosed is an arithmetic average roughness Ra. Nunez teaches that preparing the metal surface of a threaded joint, in which solid coatings are to be applied, to a surface roughness of 2 to 6 µm average surface roughness (Ra) is common and well known in the art (see col. 5, lines 8-17 of Nunez). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to prepare the surface of Goto’703 to an average surface roughness (Ra) of 3 to 5 µm, as the practice of preparing surfaces with this roughness, in order to receive a solid coating, is common and well known in the art, as taught by Nunez.
In regard to claim 2, wherein a chemical treatment coating is further formed on the second contact surface, and the anti-rust coating is formed on the chemical treatment coating (see paragraph 33 and paragraphs 101-103).
In regard to claim 3, wherein the second contact surface is subjected to a blasting treatment (see paragraph 99).
In regard to claim 4, wherein the plating layer is composed of a Zn-Ni alloy (see table 3).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. NL 8701929 discloses a similar coupling that is common and well known in the art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID E. BOCHNA whose telephone number is (571)272-7078. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-5:30.
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/DAVID BOCHNA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3679