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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species A, a battery as depicted in figure 3B, encompassing claims 1-5 in the reply filed on February 19, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 6-7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on February 19, 2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on May 19, 2023, December 3, 2024 and September 5, 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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 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.
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Suzuki (JP2005-100707; machine translation relied upon).
Regarding claim 1, Suzuki teaches a battery comprising a negative electrode current collector 25 (taken to be the claimed electrode body), a negative electrode terminal plate 21 (taken to be the claimed current collector terminal) disposed on a side surface portion of the electrode body, the current collector terminal including a first surface facing the electrode body (bottom surface of plate 21 in figure 1(a) extending to the left and right sides in the figure including the bent portion), a second surface facing the first surface (only the center portion of the top surface of plate 21), a third surface extending from an outer edge of the first surface toward the second surface side (right hand side surface of plate 21 extending straight up), and a first connecting surface connecting the third surface and the second surface (right hand side top surface of plate 21 extending left, as well as extending up and to the left), and a heat-shrinkable exterior material 15, which is configured in one embodiment using a PET resin as a base material, covering the electrode body and the current collector terminal and covering the third surface and the first connecting surface, and a boundary B2 is located inward of a boundary B1 in the thickness direction (machine translation at pages 4-5; figure 1(a)). Either the heat-shrinkable exterior material with PET resin as a base material is laminate film, thus anticipating the claim, or it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to make this element a laminate film, because multiple bonded materials can provide more and varied protection than a single material.
Regarding claim 2, the claimed locations B1 and B2 set forth above are connected by two straight lines (see figure 1(a)).
Regarding claim 3, Suzuki teaches a symmetric configuration with fourth and second connecting surfaces surfaces opposite to the third and first connecting surfaces set forth above, and with boundaries B3 and B4 similarly configured but on the opposite side, such that B4 is located inward of B3 in the thickness direction, and the laminate film 15 covers the fourth and second connecting surfaces.
Regarding claim 4, the claimed locations B3 and B4 set forth above are connected by two straight lines (see figure 1(a)).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chaloner-Gill (US Pat. No. 5,445,856).
Regarding claim 5, Suzuki teaches an adhesive 16 disposed between the current collector terminal and the laminate film, and that an end portion of the adhesive protrudes form an end portion of the laminate film (machine translation at page 5; figure 1(a)), but does not specifically disclose that the adhesive is a resin film. Chaloner-Gill teaches that a preferred adhesive in a battery is LDPE resin (column 7, lines 15-60). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use an LDPE resin film as an adhesive as taught by Chaloner-Gill in the battery of Suzuki because such an adhesive has outstanding electrical characteristics, essentially impermeability to water as well as being generally resistant to organic solvents and chemicals, particularly acids, alkalis and oxygenated solvents, and remain flexible at low temperatures (see Chaloner-Gill at column 7, lines 32-37).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHILIP N SCHWARTZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1612. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Katelyn Smith can be reached at 571-270-5545. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/P.N.S/ Examiner, Art Unit 1749 May 5, 2026
/KATELYN W SMITH/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1749
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