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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. 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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on June 30, 2026, has been entered.
3. Claims 1-7 are pending in this office action.
Priority
4. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) or (f), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
5. Information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted June 30, 2026, has been received and considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
9. Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akabane et al. (WO2019172281A1), using Akabane et al. (US 2020/0399458 A1) as an English equivalent, in view of Nishiwaki et al. (WO2019202985A1).
With regard to Claim 1, Akabane et al. disclose a binder composition for a non-aqueous secondary battery electrode comprising: a polymer including an aromatic vinyl monomer unit, a conjugated diene monomer unit, and a hydrophilic monomer unit (paragraph 045); and water (paragraph 0075), and a proportional content of the hydrophilic monomer unit in the polymer is not less than 1 part by mass and not more than 40 parts by mass (paragraph 0111), which meets the claimed limitation of not less than 4.0 mass% and not more 20 mass%.
Akabane et al. do not specifically disclose wherein the polymer has a median diameter of not less than 50 nm and not more than 500 nm.
Nishiwaki et al. disclose a binder composition for a non-aqueous secondary battery electrode comprising: a polymer including an aromatic vinyl monomer unit, such as hydrolysable silyl group-containing vinyl monomer (paragraphs 0032-0035), a conjugated diene monomer unit (paragraphs 0076-0079), and a hydrophilic monomer unit, such as ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid monomers; and water (paragraphs 0011-0020). Nishiwaki et al. disclose wherein the polymer has a median diameter of 0.1 µm or more to 8.0 µm or less (paragraph 0038) and 0.3 µm or more to 0.8 µm or less when dried (paragraph 0041), which meets the claimed limitation of not less than 50 nm and not more than 500 nm. Before the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the binder composition of Akabane et al. to include the polymer having a median diameter of not less than 50 nm and not more than 500 nm, because Nishiwaki et al. teach this median diameter range allows for a uniformly suitable particle size resulting in high stability of the composition and excellent binding properties (paragraph 0038).
Neither Akabane et al. nor Nishiwaki et al. disclose wherein the polymer has a loss tangent tan δ of not less than 0.001 and less than 0.40 and a loss modulus G" of 1,600 kPa or less. However, such properties are inherent given that both Akabane et al. in view of Nishiwaki et al. and the instant application utilize the same materials. A reference which is silent about a claimed invention's features is inherently anticipatory if the missing feature is necessarily present in that which is described in the reference. See MPEP 2112.
With regard to Claim 2, Akabane et al. disclose wherein the conjugated diene monomer unit included in the polymer is a unit derived from 1,3-butadiene monomer (paragraphs 0057-0067, 0256).
With regard to Claim 3, Akabane et al. do not specifically disclose wherein gel content measured when the polymer is immersed in tetrahydrofuran is not less than 35 mass% and not more than 60 mass%.
The recitation, "wherein gel content measured when the polymer is immersed in tetrahydrofuran is not less than 35 mass% and not more than 60 mass%", is considered a contingent limitation. A contingent limitation requires only those limitations that must be performed and does not include limitations or given patentable weight to limitations that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met. See MPEP 2111.04.
With regard to Claim 4, Akabane et al. disclose wherein the polymer includes an aromatic vinyl block region formed of aromatic vinyl monomer units (paragraphs 0049 0056).
With regard to Claim 5, Akabane et al. disclose a slurry composition for a non- aqueous secondary battery electrode comprising: an electrode active material, and the binder composition for a non-aqueous secondary battery electrode noted above (paragraph 0160).
With regard to Claim 6, Akabane et al. disclose an electrode for a non-aqueous secondary battery comprising an electrode mixed material layer formed using the slurry composition for a non-aqueous secondary battery electrode noted above (paragraph 0160).
With regard to Claim 7, Akabane et al. disclose a non-aqueous secondary battery comprising a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator, and an electrolyte solution, wherein at least one of the positive electrode and the negative electrode is the electrode for a non-aqueous secondary battery noted above (paragraphs 0197-0198).
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KARIE O APICELLA whose telephone number is (571)272-8614. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 5:00PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicole Buie-Hatcher can be reached at 571-270-3879. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KARIE O'NEILL APICELLA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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