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
Claims 1-6 remain for Examination, wherein claim 1 is an independent claim. There is no amendment for the instant claims since last office action dated 3/16/2026. It is acknowledged of the receipt of the Applicant’s “Terminal Disclaimer” filed on 3/16/2026, which has been approved on 3/16/2016.
Previous Claim Objections/Rejections
Previous rejection of claims 1-6 on the ground of non-statutory obviousness type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-6 of co-pending application No. 18/284344 (US-PG-pub 2024/0150875 A1) has been withdrawn in view of the Applicant’s “Arguments/Remarks with amendment” filed on 3/16/2026 and the Applicant’s “Terminal Disclaimer” filed on 3/16/2026, which has been approved on 3/16/2016.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayakawa et al (US-PG-pub 2019/0233914 A1, listed in IDS filed on 9/26/2023, thereafter PG’914).
PG’914 is applied to the instant claims 1-2 for the same reason as stated in the [previous rejection dated 1/2/2026.
Claims 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PG’914 in view of Sakai et al (US-PG-pub 2013/0017408, thereafter PG’408).
PG’914 in view of PG’408 is applied to the instant claims 3-6 for the same reason as stated in the [previous rejection dated 1/2/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments to the art rejection to Claims 1-6 have been considered but they moot in view of the new ground rejection as stated above.
The Applicant’s arguments are summarized as following:
1, the cited prior art(s), Hayakawa et al (PG’914) fails to disclose, teach, or suggest a step of gradual heating that is conducted from 800 to 900oC in a heating process of finishing annealing at a heating rate of 0.5-4.0oC/hr for at least 10 hours since no examples in Hayakawa et al (PG’914) meet the claimed parameters.
2, Claims 2-6 depend on claim 1, they are also allowed.
In response,
Regarding the Applicant arguments 1-2, Firstly, as pointed out in the rejection for the instant claims in the previous office action dated 1/2/2026, Hayakawa et al (PG’914) indicates that: “In terms of completing secondary recrystallization, the average heating rate in a temperature range of 800° C. or more and 900° C. or less in the secondary recrystallization annealing is preferably 5° C./h or less.” (Par.[0320] of PG’914) for 2-20h (par.[0321] of PG’914), which is same annealing temperature range as claimed and overlapping the heating rate of 0.5-4.0oC/hr and duration as claimed in the instant claim 1. MPEP 2144 05 I. Actually, PG’914 provides examples heating from 800° C to 880° C at 2.0oC/h. and hold for 50hrs, (par.[0346]-[0348] of PG’914), which reads on the claimed heating parameters as calmed in the instant claim.
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 JIE YANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1884. The examiner can normally be reached on IFP.
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/JIE YANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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