Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 16, 2026
Application No. 18/270,734

MATERIALS FOR ORGANIC ELECTROLUMINESCENT DEVICES

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jul 03, 2023
Priority
Jan 05, 2021 — EU 21150212.5 +1 more
Examiner
LOEWE, ROBERT S
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Merck Patent GmbH
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
84%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
88%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 84% — above average
84%
Career Allowance Rate
1450 granted / 1730 resolved
+23.8% vs TC avg
Minimal +4% lift
Without
With
+3.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
51 currently pending
Career history
1760
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.4%
-38.6% vs TC avg
§103
40.0%
+0.0% vs TC avg
§102
29.6%
-10.4% vs TC avg
§112
21.3%
-18.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1730 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 Specification The specification is objected to due to legibility issues. Specifically, pages 54 and 55 of Applicants specification have legibility issues. This can be seen by the question marks in Applicants pre-grant publication (US 2024/0083892) on pages 158-160. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 15-20 and 22-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Qian et al. (CN-112225727). Qian et al. has a publication date of 1/15/21 which is before Applicants filing date but after Applicants (unperfected) foreign priority date of 1/5/21. Applicants can overcome this rejection by perfecting their foreign priority date which can be done by providing a certified English language translation of foreign application EP 21150212.5. Copies of the original and a machine translation are included with this Office action. Claim 15: Compounds 1 through 155 of Qian et al. satisfy all of the limitations of formula (1) of claim 1. As one example, compound 1, which has the structure PNG media_image1.png 112 144 media_image1.png Greyscale (page 3). As applied to claim 15, compound 1 has Z equal to O, all R groups equal to hydrogen atoms, and R* is a group which anticipates formula (2) with L equal to a single bond, two X equal to CR with one R equal to phenyl and one R equal to N-bonded carbazolyl, and three X equal to N. Claim 16: Compound 1 also anticipates formula (7b) of claim 16. Claim 17: Compound 1 has Z equal to O which also anticipates claim 17. Claim 18: Compound 1 anticipates claim 18 in that none of the substituents R are groups other than hydrogen. Claim 19: Compound 1 anticipates formulae (7b-1) through (7b-4) of claim 19 with R equal to hydrogen. Claim 20: Compound 1 has L equal to a single bond which anticipates claim 20. Claims 22 and 23: Compound 1 comprises a group which anticipates formula (8) of claim 22 and formula (8a) of claim 23 with R equal to phenyl and N-bonded carbazolyl. Claim 24: Qian et al. teaches that the compounds taught therein are prepared by a coupling reaction between a compound having a triazine skeleton and a leaving group (-C1) and a compound which becomes the R* group (see page 29), thereby anticipating claim 24. Claim 25: It is submitted that the simple act of preparing any of the compounds taught by Qian et al., including compound 1, would necessarily involve purification from a crude reaction mixture, and the crude reaction mixture inherently comprises a solvent. As such, the crude reaction mixture (or a purified product in a solvent destined for characterization) anticipates a formulation as recited in claim 25. Claims 26 and 27: The compounds taught by Qian et al., which includes compound 1 (device example 1 on page 33), are employed as host materials in organic electroluminescent devices, which anticipates the limitations of claims 26 and 27. Claims 15, 16, and 18-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chen et al. (CN-112625032). Chen et al. has a publication date of 4/9/21 which is before Applicants filing date but after Applicants (unperfected) foreign priority date of 1/5/21. Applicants can overcome this rejection by perfecting their foreign priority date which can be done by providing a certified English language translation of foreign application EP 21150212.5. Copies of the original and a machine translation are included with this Office action. Claim 15: Compound n-36 of Chen et al., which has the structure, PNG media_image2.png 106 94 media_image2.png Greyscale (page 9), satisfies all of the limitations of formula (1) of claim 15. As applied to claim 15, compound n-36 has Z equal to S, all R groups equal to hydrogen atoms, and R* is a group which anticipates formula (2) with L equal to a p-phenylene, two X equal to CR with R equal to naphthyl, and three X equal to N. Claim 16: Compound n-36 also anticipates formula (7a) of claim 16. Claim 18: Compound n-36 anticipates claim 18 in that none of the substituents R are groups other than hydrogen. Claim 19: Compound n-36 anticipates formulae (7a-1) through (7a-4) of claim 19 with R equal to hydrogen. Claim 20: Compound n-36 has L equal to a p-phenylene which anticipates claim 20. Claim 21: Compound n-36 has L equal to a group which satisfies formula (L-1) with all R equal to hydrogen atoms. Claims 22 and 23: Compound n-36 comprises a group which anticipates formula (8) of claim 22 and formula (8a) of claim 23 with R equal to naphthyl. Claim 24: Chen et al. teaches that the compounds taught therein are prepared by a coupling reaction between a compound having a triazine skeleton and a leaving group (-Br) and a compound which becomes the R* group (see page 43), thereby anticipating claim 24. Claim 25: It is submitted that the simple act of preparing any of the compounds taught by Chen et al., including compound n-36, would necessarily involve purification from a crude reaction mixture, and the crude reaction mixture inherently comprises a solvent. As such, the crude reaction mixture (or a purified product in a solvent destined for characterization) anticipates a formulation as recited in claim 25. Claims 26 and 27: The compounds taught by Chen et al., which includes compound n-36, are employed as host materials in organic electroluminescent devices, which anticipates the Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT S LOEWE whose telephone number is (571)270-3298. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Randy Gulakowski, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-1302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center for authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to Patent Center, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form. /Robert S Loewe/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jul 03, 2023
Application Filed
Jul 15, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
84%
Grant Probability
88%
With Interview (+3.8%)
2y 4m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1730 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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