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
Claims 11, 14, and 16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 20 May 2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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) 1-10, 12-13, 15 and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20220356549 A1 (hereinafter “Murakawa”), in view of US 20220186330 A1 (hereinafter “Nippon”).
Regarding claim 1, Murakawa teaches a non-oriented electrical steel sheet (title). Murakawa teaches a steel with overlapping composition except for Cr (see claim 1). The composition of the claimed steel is compared with the composition of the Murakawa steel in the chart below (values in mass percentage).
Element
Claim 1
Murakawa Claim 1
C
Si
(one or more Mn, Ni, Co, Pt, Pb, Cu, and Au)
Sol Al
S
N
one or of Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ce, La, Nd, Pr, Zn, and Cd
Cr
Sn
Sb
P
B
O
Fe and impurity
or less
1.5-4
<2.5
0.0001-3
0.0003-0.01
0.01 or less
0.0003-0.01
0.001-0.1
0.0-0.4
0-0.4
0-0.4
0-0.005
0-0.020
balance
0.041 or less
1.5-4
2.5-5
0.0001-1
0.01 or less
0.01 or less
0.000-0.010
--*
0.00-0.4
0-0.4
0-0.4
--
--
balance
The composition of Murakawa (with exception of Cr) overlaps the claimed composition, establishing a prima facie case of obviousness. It would have been an obvious matter for the skilled artisan at time of filing to have selected a composition in the ranges claimed because Murakawa teaches the same utility over an overlapping range.
Murakawa teaches a high KAM value (abstract, [0056]-[0064]). Murakawa teaches that the KAM value is such that the grain Misorientation condition of Sac>Sbc>Sag and 0.05>Sag are satisfied, wherein Sac is area ratio of {100} oriented grains, Sag is area ratio of {110} oriented grains, Sbc is area ratio of {100} oriented grains in a region of up to 20% from a side where a kernel average misorientation (KAM) value is high (claim 1, [0053]-[0058]). Thus the KAM value as a measure of non-orientation of the steel sheet is considered to be great.
Murakawa teaches that sulfides are present as needed in the steel by the addition of one or more of the elements of Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ce, La, Nd, Pr, Zn and Cd ([0052]). Although the prior art Murakawa does not use the same formulae for calculating of a KAM property, the prior art teaches a similar composition used for similar purposes, and with high KAM value.
Regarding the Cr content, Murakawa does not mention any amount of Cr.
Nippon teaches that it is known in non-oriented electrical steels to add Cr as an alloying element along with or in place of Sn and Cu in order to generate favorable recrystallization magnetic properties (see [0060]). It would have been an obvious matter to the skilled artisan to have added a small amount of Cr to the steel of Murakawa in order to obtain the benefit described in Nippon.
Regarding formula (1) in the claim, it is well settled that there is no invention in the discovery of a general formula if it covers a composition described in the prior art, In re Cooper and Foley 1943 C.D. 357, 553 O.G. 177; 57 USPQ 117, Saklatwalla v. Marburg, 620 O.G. 685, 1949 C.D. 77, and In re Pilling, 403 O.G. 513, 44 F(2) 878, 1931 C.D. 75. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the selection of the proportions of elements would appear to require no more than routine investigation by those of ordinary skill in the art. In re Austin, et al., 149 USPQ 685, 688.
Regarding the formulae 2 thru 6, Murakawa does not calculate these values. However, the non-oriented electrical steel having the claimed properties would have naturally flowed from following the suggestions of the prior art, of an electrical non-oriented steel having an overlapping composition, used for the same purposes, and having a high KAM value.
Regarding claims 2-4, Murakawa does not etch the same formulae 7-9 are satisfied. Murakawa teaches that a grain misorientation is generally high ([0053]-[0061] or claim 1). The non-oriented electrical steel having the claimed properties would have naturally flowed from following the suggestions of the prior art, of an electrical non-oriented steel having an overlapping composition, used for the same purposes, and having a high KAM value.
Regarding claim 5-9, Murakawa is applied to the claims as stated above. Murakawa does not teach the values of formulae 10-19 as claimed. Murakawa teaches that a grain misorientation is generally high ([0053]-[0061] or claim 1). The non-oriented electrical steel having the claimed properties would have naturally flowed from following the suggestions of the prior art, of an electrical non-oriented steel having an overlapping composition, used for the same purposes, and having a high KAM value.
Regarding claim 10, Murakawa teaches overlapping amounts of Sn, Sb, and P (see claim 1).
Regarding claim 12-13, Murakawa is applied to the claims as stated above. Murakawa does not teach the values of formulae 20-25 as claimed. Murakawa teaches that a grain misorientation is generally high ([0053]-[0061] or claim 1). The non-oriented electrical steel having the claimed properties would have naturally flowed from following the suggestions of the prior art, of an electrical non-oriented steel having an overlapping composition, used for the same purposes, and having a high KAM value.
Regarding claim 15, Murakawa teaches overlapping amounts of Sn, Sb, and P (see claim 1).
Regarding claims 17-18, Murakawa in view of Nippon is applied to the claims as stated above. Murakawa does not teach the values of formulae 2-15 as claimed. Murakawa teaches that a grain misorientation is generally high ([0053]-[0061] or claim 1). The non-oriented electrical steel having the claimed properties would have naturally flowed from following the suggestions of the prior art, of an electrical non-oriented steel having an overlapping composition, used for the same purposes, and having a high KAM value.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER S KESSLER whose telephone number is (571)272-6510. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5:30.
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CHRISTOPHER S. KESSLER
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1734
/CHRISTOPHER S KESSLER/ Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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