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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6-8 are allowable over the prior art of record.
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 of this title, 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.
1. Claims 1-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawamura et al. (US5578392) in view of Koutari et al. (US 20200313129).
2. Regarding claims 1-5, Kawamura teaches battery pack (see Fig. below) comprising: two or more secondary batteries having a cylindrical shape and arranged in parallel; and a plate that electrically connects two or more of the secondary batteries, wherein the plate includes: a first through hole; and a first wall portion provided on a plate surface on an opposite side to a plate surface having a connection surface connected to a terminal of the secondary battery, and the first wall portion has a first wall surface continuous with an inner peripheral surface of the first through hole (see Fig. below).
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3. Kawamura is silent about a lead plate, and an inner diameter of the first through hole is 0.2 mm or more and 0.8 mm or less.
4. Koutari teaches lead plate which is connected to the electrodes of the cylindrical batteries (abstract), the diameter of through hole 32 is…0.5 mm or more [0063] for the benefit of thin metal plate having a high electric resistance. [0061]. In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists (MPEP 2144.05).
5. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kawamura with Koutari’s teachings for the benefit of thin metal plate having a high electric resistance.
Conclusion
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/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752