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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-15 and 17-23 are pending wherein claims 9-15 are currently under examination. Claims 1-7 and 20-23 are withdrawn from consideration pursuant 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a non-elected method of case hardening. Claims 8 and 17-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant 37 CFR 1.142 as being drawn to non-elected species. Applicant’s election of claims 9-15 was made with traverse in the Response filed on March 6, 2026.
Applicant traverses on the grounds that Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) does not disclose actual examples but the treatment is described to provide a yellow surface layer of TixNy and a yellow color is a layer where TiN is predominant; Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) does not disclose a component of titanium or titanium-based alloy having a surface with a surface nitride layer of Ti2N; and any titanium and zirconium are so chemically similar that any treatment of titanium is expected to provide at least a very similar effect for zirconium and vice versa and it would not be an undue burden to search both a hardened Group IV metal and the method for hardening the Group IV metal.
In response, the disclosure of Jacquot e al. (EP ‘980) would include Ti2N as it would also include TiN. Independent claim 9 does not refer to any particular color of the surface to distinguish from Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980); it does not indicate how much Ti2N is present relative to other phases; and independent claim 9 does not preclude the presence of TiN. Titanium and their alloys are classified in C22C14/00 and zirconium and their alloys are classified in C22C16/00. Surface hardening processes are classified differently in C23C. Finally, the Examiner notes that although some of the searching may overlap, to examine both of these inventions would require not only additional searching but also would require consideration of additional 112 issues, consideration of the combinability of prior art references, the formulation of rejections, etc. Therefore, the requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claims 9 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jacquot et al. (EP 0885980 B1).
In regard to claims 9 and 11-12, Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) discloses treating titanium alloys with gases such as ammonia such that the component would have a surface hardness greater than 1000 HV, which is associated with the titanium nitride having a thickness of approximately 4 micrometers with a diffusion layer (a few hundredths of a mm thick) with a hardness of >400 HV and wherein TiN2 would be present ([0011], [0014] and [0033]).The hardnesses and depths disclosed by Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) overlap the range of the instant invention, which is prima facie evidence of obviousness. MPEP 2144.05 I.
With respect to the recitation “not containing zirconium” in claims 9 and 11, Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) does not require the presence of zirconium in the titanium materials and therefore Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) reads on the claim.
With respect to the recitation “identified using X-ray diffraction analysis” in claim 11, Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) discloses depths and hardnesses associated with those depths that overlap the ranges of the instant invention and therefore is prima facie obviousness and the method of which a compound is determined is not material to the composition. MPEP 2144.05 I.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10 and 13-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
In regard to claims 10 and 13, since Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) comprises TixNy which would include Ti2N and TiN and therefore claim 10 would distinguish from Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980).
In regard to claim 14, Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) discloses a layer of oxide [0037] and therefore claim 14 distinguishes from Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980).
In regard to claim 15, Jacquot et al. (EP ‘980) fails to specify a mirror polish appearance defined as a surface with an arithmetical mean deviation (Ra) roughness of <0.1 µm in accordance with the ISO 1302:2002 standard.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Guu, Yeong Yan, Jen Fin Lin, and Chi-Fong Ai. "The tribological characteristics of titanium nitride, titanium carbonitride and titanium carbide coatings." Thin solid films 302.1-2 (1997): 193-200.
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/JESSEE R ROE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759