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 .
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is responsive to the amendment filed March 30, 2026. Claim objection of claim 2 is overcome. The following rejections are maintained:
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suetsugu et. a WO 2013/125594A1 in view of Kawaguchi et al. EP 1209754A1.
The rejection of claims 1-5 is as follows:
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.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suetsugu et. a WO 2013/125594A1 in view of Kawaguchi et al. EP 1209754A1.
With respect to claim 1, Suetsugu teaches an aqueous primary battery (aqueous potassium hydroxide solution electrolyte, See “(Measurement of molding density of positive electrode mixture)” section; primary battery, See Technical Field), comprising: a positive electrode (positive electrode; See Technical Field), a negative electrode (negative electrode, See “(Measurement of middle rate discharge characteristics)” section), a electrolyte (aqueous potassium hydroxide solution electrolyte, See “(Measurement of molding density of positive electrode mixture)” section); separator interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode (dry battery; Technical Field; Dry battery must have means to separate electrodes to avoid short circuiting), and an aqueous solution electrolyte included in the positive electrode, the negative electrode, and the separator ((aqueous potassium hydroxide solution electrolyte, See “(Measurement of molding density of positive electrode mixture)” section, liquid electrolyte will imbibe all elements present), the negative electrode includes a negative electrode active material, the negative electrode active material includes zinc (zinc negative electrode, See “(Measurement of middle rate discharge characteristics)” section) . With respect to claim 5, the aqueous primary battery is an alkaline dry battery or a manganese dry battery (manganese dry battery; See Technical field).
Suetsugu does not teach or suggest: the electrolyte additive includes a cyclic compound, and the cyclic compound has a first ring including a -N-CO- structure, and a second ring that shares at least two atoms with the first ring (claim 1); the cyclic compound is at least one selected from the group consisting of a phthalimide compound represented by a general formula (1): [Chem 1]:
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(in the general formula (1), X1 to X4 are each independently a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom, a bromine atom, an iodine atom, or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and Y1 is a hydrogen atom or an alkali metal atom),
a phthalimidine compound represented by a general formula (2): [Chem 2]
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(in the general formula (2), X5 to X8 are each independently a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom, a bromine atom, an iodine atom, or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and Y2 is a hydrogen atom or an alkali metal atom), and
a tetrahydro phthalimide compound represented by a general formula (3):[Chem 3]
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(in the general formula (3), Y3 is a hydrogen atom or an alkali metal atom); (claim 2); the cyclic compound is at least one selected from the group consisting of phthalimide and potassium phthalimide (claim 3); an amount of the cyclic compound is 0.005 parts by mass or more and 0.05 parts by mass or less relative to 100 parts by mass of the negative electrode active material (claim 4).
Kawaguchi teaches that it is well known in the art to employ: the electrolyte additive includes a cyclic compound, and the cyclic compound has a first ring including a -N-CO- structure, and a second ring that shares at least two atoms with the first ring (,
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where X1 to X4 are independently hydrogen atoms, Y1 is hydrogen, Na, K, Mg, Ca or Ba; page 3, line 15 of image; claim 1); the cyclic compound is at least one selected from the group consisting of a phthalimide compound represented by a general formula (1): [Chem 1]:
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(in the general formula (1), X1 to X4 are each independently a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom, a bromine atom, an iodine atom, or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and Y1 is a hydrogen atom or an alkali metal atom;
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where X1 to X4 are independently hydrogen atoms, Y1 is hydrogen, Na, K, Mg, Ca or Ba; page 3, lines 1-15 of image;),
a phthalimidine compound represented by a general formula (2): [Chem 2]
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(in the general formula (2), X5 to X8 are each independently a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom, a bromine atom, an iodine atom, or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and Y2 is a hydrogen atom or an alkali metal atom;
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where X5 to X8 are independently hydrogen atoms, Y2 is hydrogen, Na, K, Mg, Ca or Ba; page 3, line 20-30 of image),
(claim 2); the cyclic compound is at least one selected from the group consisting of phthalimide and potassium phthalimide (potassium phthalimide , Page 3 of image, lines 1-30; claim 3); an amount of the cyclic compound is 0.005 parts by mass or more and 0.05 parts by mass or less relative to 100 parts by mass of the negative electrode active material (additive is preferably 0.001 to 10% by weight relative to the sum of the solvent and the solute; par. [0024] of image; claim 4).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the electrolyte additive includes a cyclic compound, and the cyclic compound has a first ring including a -N-CO- structure, and a second ring that shares at least two atoms with the first ring
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where X1 to X4 are independently hydrogen atoms, Y1 is hydrogen, Na, K, Mg, Ca or Ba; page 3, line 15 of image; claim 1) of Kawaguchi in the aqueous primary battery of Suetsugu, in order to suppress an increase in the internal resistance of the battery. See Kawaguchi TECHNICAL FIELD.
Further concerning an amount of the cyclic compound being 0.005 parts by mass or more and 0.05 parts by mass or less relative to 100 parts by mass of the negative electrode active material (claim 4); it would have been obvious as the electrolyte additive of Suetsugu in view of Kawaguchi, in order to suppress an increase in the internal resistance of the battery. See Kawaguchi TECHNICAL FIELD. Kawaguchi teaches the additive is preferably 0.001 to 10% by weight relative to the sum of the solvent and the solute. See par. [0024] of image. Furthermore, "where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." See In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955). The discovery of an optimum value of a known result effective variable, without producing any new or unexpected results, is within the ambit of a person of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Boesch, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980) (see MPEP § 2144.05, II.).
Response to Arguments
Applicant asserts that Suetsugu et. a WO 2013/125594A1 in view of Kawaguchi et al. EP 1209754A1 is not obvious over the instant claims, because Kawaguchi teaches a cycle compound containing -N-CO-, such as a phthalimide-based compound as an additive in a nonaqueous electrolyte for prevention of SEI formation. In contrast, Suetsugu teaches an aqueous electrolyte system, and SEI is not formed. Therefore, the skilled artisan would not be motived to employ the -N-CO- additive of Kawaguchi, in the aqueous electrolyte of Suetsugu, nor have any expectation of success from said combination. This argument is not persuasive, as the skilled artisan recognizes that -N-CO- additives have benefit beyond SEI suppression, including: gas suppression, corrosion inhibition, water activity modification and suppression of dendrites. Therefore, it would be reasonable to expect the person of ordinary skill in the art to experiment with known additives for known effects beyond the prior art disclosure. The difference in electrolyte solvent (aqueous versus non-aqueous) does not appear to prohibit experimentation.
Applicant asserts unexpected results over use of conventional additives for gas suppression. Specially, applicant asserts that Examples and Comparative examples A1, A2, B1 and B2 show said unexpected result of gas suppression. This assertion is not persuasive as there is only one data point for potassium phthalimide (A1), and one for phthalimide (A2), and one other additive, phosphoric acid ester. The results in Table 1 are not commensurate in scope with the claims that necessitate a -N-CO- additive which would include compounds beyond potassium phthalimide (A1), and phthalimide (A2). Therefore, the arguments are not persuasive.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MONIQUE M WILLS whose telephone number is (571)272-1309. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:30am to 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor, Tiffany Legette, may be reached at 571-270-7078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Monique M Wills/
Examiner, Art Unit 1722
/TIFFANY LEGETTE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1723
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