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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim of priority as a 35 U.S.C. §371 national stage entry of
PCT/US2021/052043 filed Sept. 24, 2021, which in turn claims priority to provisional
application 63/082,592 filed Sept. 24, 2020, is hereby acknowledged.
Election/Restriction
Applicant’s election, without traverse, of Group I (claims 1, 6-9, 12, 16, 35-39, 49, 53, 54, 57, 60-63, 65 and 76-81) and its election of “precious metal” and “non-metal” as the species for the “material” and “conductive additive”, respectively, in its reply filed on March 30, 2026 to the requirement dated January 28, 2026, is hereby acknowledged.
Accordingly, claims 1, 6-9, 12, 16, 36, 38, 39, 49, 53, 54, 57, 60-63, 65, 76, 78, 80 and 81 haven been examined in the instant action, whereas claims 35, 37, 69, 75, 77 and 79 have been withdrawn from consideration as drawn to nonelected species/invention but remain pending with the present application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed 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, 6-9, 12, 16, 36, 38, 39, 49, 53, 54, 57, 60-63, 65, 76, 78, 80 and 81 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as unpatentable over WO 2020/165502 A to Tero Rinne. For purposes of the instant action, the examiner will be relying on the pre-grant publication of the U.S. equivalent: US 2022/0145420 A1 to Tero Rinne, published August 20, 2020, (hereinafter “Rinne”).
Rinne discloses a method for recovering metal from metal-containing waste material by leaching, wherein the method comprises: providing an aqueous solution and a leaching agent precursor; providing a source of external energy; treating the aqueous solution with the external energy to form reactive species; reacting the leaching agent precursor with the reactive species to form a leaching agent to provide a leaching solution; providing metal-containing material, reacting the metal-containing material with the leaching solution to obtain soluble metal complexes; and recovering the metal complexes (abstract; [0001]; [0004] to [0035]). The leaching material can include a halogen compound and an acid, such as boric acid ([0055]; [0091]). The method can include loading a powdered metal complex onto activated carbon or graphene (non-metal conductive material), and wherein the metal can be oxidized (with an oxidant) into soluble forms ([0037]; [0055]; [0058]; [0090]; [0168]; [0170]; [0174]; [0181]; [0182]; [0185]; Fig. 3, Example 1; claim 10 of Rinne).
Rinne also discloses that the waste can be electronic waste, such as circuit boards, electronic components, coated cables or connectors in crushed or pulverized form ([0056]; [0057]). The desired recovered metal can be a precious metal, such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium and can further include copper, zinc, iron and rare earth metals, wherein one or more metals may be recovered ([0058]; [0059]). The method thus comprises reacting metal-containing material/additives with a leaching solution to obtain soluble metal complexes and, subsequently recovering the metal complexes ([0086]; [0123]). The recovery of the metal complexes can be performed by a plasma/corona process, wherein the process forms a plasma-liquid interface when the liquid acts as a cathode and an electric field is induced by ion emission and evaporation, wherein positive ions in the plasma are accelerated by the cathode voltage and liquid constituents sputter into the gaseous phase at about 500 Vols, forms an electric field is high enough to pull out the hydrated negative ions and transfer them to the gaseous plasma, followed by heat evaporation at the liquid surface caused by plasma and Joule heating to form a reactive species, reacting the leaching agent precursor with the reactive species to form a leaching agent and to obtain a leaching solution, providing a metal-containing material, reacting the metal-containing material with the leaching solution to obtain soluble metal complexes, and recovering the metal complexes ([0023]; [0040]; [0064]; [0151] to [0154; [0188] to [0191]; [claims 1 and 4 of Rinne).
Although, Rinne discloses it method using a plasma/Joule heating process involving applying a voltage to the reaction mixture, it does not disclose its process as a “flash Joule heating process”. However, it would have been within the purview of a person of one skilled in the art to apply/perform the heating process at a faster rate and/or higher temperature to optimize the amount of metal/material recovered from the process. Thus, the rate/temperature can be arrived by routine optimization of these variables (temperature and/or reaction rate). See MPEP §2144.05 II A.
Thus, the presently examined claims are unpatentable Rinne .
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN J FIGUEROA whose telephone number is (571)272-8916. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30 am -6:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JOSEPH DEL SOLE can be reached on 571-272-1130. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN J FIGUEROA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
July 2, 2026
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