DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
Claims 1-12 are pending and presented for examination on the merits.
Status of Previous Objection to the Drawings
The previous objection to the drawings is withdrawn in view of the replacement drawing sheet of Figure 1 filed on 02/24/2026.
Status of Previous Double Patenting Rejections
The previous double patenting rejections of claims 1-3 and 7 over claims 10-12 of copending Application No. 18/267,660 are withdrawn in view of the terminal disclaimer filed on 02/24/2026. The terminal disclaimer was approved on 02/24/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0087746 (A1) (also WO 2018/110676 (A1)) to Omura et al. (“Omura”).
US 2020/0087746 (A1) is a pre-grant publication of U.S. appl. ser. no.16/468,087, which is a 371 national stage application of PCT/JP2017/044989, published by WIPO as WO 2018/110676 (A1). The pre-grant publication will serve as an equivalent to and the translation for the WIPO publication.
Regarding claims 1-12, the claims remain rejected for the same reasons presented in the Office action dated 11/26/2025.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02/24/2026 have been fully considered, but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Omura does not disclose the claimed invention because Omura discloses neither pores nor subgrains. Applicant further notes that the steels of Omura do not have the claimed pores and subgrain structure because the tension in Omura occurs during continuous annealing, whereas the tension of the present invention occurs during the forming of the insulating coating layer.
In response, the line tension in Omura is applied to facilitate film (coating) formation (para. [0021], [0039], [0049], [0057], [0058], [0064]; header labels in Table 1, Table 8, and Table 10). In one embodiment, oxide film formation includes a step of applying a line tension applied of 0.5 kgf/mm2 (para. [0021]). In another embodiment, tension coating baking treatment also serves as flattening annealing, and the line tension applied is 0.7 kgf/mm2 (para. [0049]). These values fall within the range of 0.20-0.70 kgf/mm2 disclosed in the specification (p. 24 – line 24 to p. 25 – line 1). Thus, the line tension in Omura is not limited solely to a continuous annealing function without coating, but rather is part of an annealing step for conducting coating treatment, and the claimed pore and subgrain structure is expected in Omura given that its method of manufacture matches the method of manufacture disclosed in the present specification.
Applicant additionally remarks that Omura does not disclose maximum and minimum values of the tension.
In response, in an embodiment, Omura discloses that the tension during sheet passing in each of the temperature ranges was 0.7 kgf/mm2 (para. [0049]). This suggests maintaining the line tension value, i.e., little deviation, which would meet Expression 2.
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 VANESSA T. LUK whose telephone number is (571)270-3587. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM ET.
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/VANESSA T. LUK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1733
April 13, 2026
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