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 .
DETAILED ACTION
The Applicant has elected Invention I (claim 1) drawn to a product of a V-N micro-alloy steel, classified in class C22C38/12 for the further prosecution without travers; Claims 2-10 have been withdrawn as non-elected claims; Claims 11-17 are added as new claims; Claims 1 and 11-17 remain for Examination, wherein claim 1 is an independent claim.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the “LF refining” in the instant claim should be written in whole term. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 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 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 and 11-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al (WO 2019/100881 A1, with on-line translation, thereafter WO’881).
Regarding claim 1, WO’881 teaches a vanadium-nitrogen-containing micro-alloyed peritectic steel billet manufactured by continuous casting method comprises utilizing an arc billet caster with preventing straightening crack (Abstract, Summary of invention, claims of WO’881). The comparison between the claimed alloy composition ranges and those disclosed by WO’881 (Abstract and claims of WO’881) has been listed in following table. All of the alloy composition ranges disclosed by WO’881 overlap the claimed alloy composition ranges. which creates a prima facie case of obviousness. MPEP 2144 05 I. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to optimize the alloy composition ranges including C, Si, Mn, P, S, V, N, and Fe from WO’881 since WO’881 teaches the same vanadium-nitrogen-containing micro-alloyed peritectic steel billet manufactured by the same continuous casting method comprises utilizing an arc billet caster with preventing straightening crack as claimed throughout whole disclosing range. Since WO’881 teaches all of the essential alloy elements in the instant claim, which reads on “consisting of” language as claimed in the instant claim.
Element
From instant Claim 1 (mass %)
From WO’881 (mass %)
overlapping range
(mass %)
C
0.09-0.13
0.12-0.18
0.12-0.13
Si
0.1-0.4
0.2-0.4
0.2-0.4
Mn
1.0-3.0
1.2-1,5
1.2-1,5
P
≤ 0.05
Not intended added
0-impurity level
S
≤ 0.05
Not intended added
0-impurity level
V
0.1-0.4
0.05-0.1
0.1
N
0.011-0.2
0.006-0.120
0.011-0.12
Fe
Balance +impurities
Balance +impurities
Balance +impurities
Still regarding claim 1 and claims 12-17, the detail manufacturing process including smelting (cl.1, 12, 14, and 16), refining (cl.1 and 13), casting (cl.1 and 15), and cooling (cl.1 and 17) are recognized as process limitations in a product-by-process claims. The claimed V-N micro-alloyed steel blank in the instant claim manipulated by the metal product composition and property itself. Therefore, the detail manufacturing process steps and parameters in the instant claims do not add weight on the patentability of the instant claims. MPEP 2113 [R-1].
Regarding claim 11, It is well settled that change the size of an article were held to be obvious, in re Rose 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955). Actually, WO’881 teaches that square billets with sections of 150mm*150mm (Abstract and claims of WO’881).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIE YANG whose telephone number is (571) 270-1884. The examiner can normally be reached on IFP.
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/JIE YANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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