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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/23/26 has been entered.
Applicants' arguments have been fully considered. Rejections and/or objections not reiterated from previous office actions are hereby withdrawn due to Applicant's amendments and/or arguments. The following rejections and/or objections are either reiterated or newly applied.
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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ke (CN101461964).
Re claims 1-3, Ke discloses a surface coating for magnesium or magnesium alloy that comprises chemical conversion layer and ceramic layer [12]. The chemical conversion layer comprises phosphate-based conversion layers including magnesium phosphate [14, 27]. The conversion layer has a thickness of 10 nm to 1 mm [14]. The ceramic layer is made from hydroxyapatite and has a thickness of 1 micron to 10 mm [15]. The ratio of calcium to phosphorous in the hydroxyapatite is 1.67:1 [28].
In light of the overlap between the claimed surface coating and that disclosed by Ke, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a surface coating that is both disclosed by Ke and encompassed within the scope of the present claims and thereby arrive at the claimed invention.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection and new reference. See the rejection above.
Conclusion
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TAMRA L. DICUS
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1787
/TAMRA L. DICUS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
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