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 Group I: claims 1-3 and 5 in the reply filed on 11/7/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 4 and 6-8 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 11/7/2025.
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, 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe et al. (JP 2007-177298), hereinafter “Watanabe,” wherein an English machine translation is used and cited herein.
Regarding claim 1, Watanabe teaches a method for producing a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet, the method comprising heating a steel slab, hot rolling, cold rolling once or more with intermediate annealing performed therebetween, primary recrystallization annealing, applying an annealing separator, and final annealing (Abstract, [0011], [0034], [0038]). Watanabe teaches wherein the slab comprises a chemical composition comprising, in mass%, C: 0.01-0.10%, Si: 1.0-5.0%, Mn: 0.06-0.07%, and Nb, V, and Ti 50 ppm or less ([0011], [0015], [0023], [0026], [0034], [0038]), which satisfies or overlaps with the instantly claimed ranges. Watanabe further reaches wherein the annealing separator comprises at least 50% by mass magnesia (MgO) and 1-10% by mass of a composite oxide which may contain one or more of Fe, Mn, Al, Ca, Zr, and Mo (Abstract, [0030]). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP §2144.05.
As to claim 3, Watanabe teaches wherein the slab composition may comprise, by mass%, Al: 100 ppm or less, N, S, and Se: 50 ppm or less, and Mo: 50 ppm or less ([0026]), which overlaps with the instantly claimed ranges. In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP §2144.05.
Claim(s) 2 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe (JP 2007-177298), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Imamura et al. (US 2015/0187473), as cited in the IDS dated 8/14/2024, hereinafter “Imamura.”
Regarding claim 2, Watanabe teaches/renders obvious the method as recited in claim 1, as detailed above. Watanabe is silent as to the final annealing temperature, but states that the conditions of the final annealing may be those of known methods ([0032]).
However, in the same field of endeavor of producing grain-oriented electrical steel sheet including the use of an annealing separator (Abstract), Imamura teaches that final annealing may be carried out at a temperature of about 1200⁰C, such as 1220⁰C, as a purification treatment and to improve iron loss (Abstract, [0022], [0051], [0059]). Note that Watanabe desires improved iron loss ([0010]). Therefore, in the absence of a final annealing temperature disclosed in Watanabe, and as Watanabe suggests using final annealing conditions of known methods, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the final annealing conditions of Imamaura, which is final annealing at a temperature of about 1200⁰C, such as 1220⁰C, as a purification treatment and to improve iron loss, as taught by Imamura (Abstract, [0022], [0051], [0059]). A final annealing at 1220⁰C as taught by Watanabe modified by Imamura meets the limitation of a maximum arrival temperature in the final annealing of 1210⁰C or higher.
As to claim 3, Watanabe modified by Imamura teaches wherein the slab composition may comprise, by mass%, Al: 100 ppm or less, N, S, and Se: 50 ppm or less, and Mo: 50 ppm or less (Watanabe: [0026]), which overlaps with the instantly claimed ranges. In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP §2144.05.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY M LIANG whose telephone number is (571)272-0483. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00am-5:00pm.
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/ANTHONY M LIANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734