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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I, claims 1-4 and 6-7 in the reply filed on 12/17/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that claims 5 and 8-12 depend upon claim 1, and therefore claim 5 is not a final product which does not contain the alleged intermediate product. Applicant also argues Groups I and II are essentially integral, and that both groups can be used as final products. This is not found persuasive because, while claim 5 does recite the boron nitride sintered body of claim 5, the coating layer with a thickness of 0.5 µm or more and 5.0 µm or less represents a final product that uses the intermediate of claim 1 as noted in the restriction requirement dated 10/28/2025. The intermediate is deemed useful as an abrasive grain and the inventions are patentably distinct. The inventions have acquired a separate status in the art, and searching both inventions would constitute a search burden.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 5 and 8-12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 12/17/2025.
Priority
Examiner notes that an Oath was filed 06/07/2023, however, a certified copy of the priority document does not appear to be present in the application documents.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-3 and 6-7 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.
Claim 2 is directed towards the cubic boron nitride sintered body according to claim 1, wherein, in the binder phase, a ratio of a content (volume%) of a first material S1 composed of a compound containing W to a total content (volume%) of the first material S1 and a second material S2 composed of a compound being free of W and containing V, (S1/(S1+ S2)), is 0.35 or more and 1 or less.
The closest prior art is Ishii et al. (US20190076920, hereinafter referred to as Ishii). Ishii is directed towards cBN with a metallic binder (see Ishii at the Abstract). Ishii makes obvious the subject matter of instant claim 1 as noted in the rejection of claim 1 below. However, per instant claim 2, Ishii does not disclose or make obvious the cubic boron nitride sintered body according to claim 1, wherein, in the binder phase, a ratio of a content (volume%) of a first material S1 composed of a compound containing W to a total content (volume%) of the first material S1 and a second material S2 composed of a compound being free of W and containing V, (S1/(S1+ S2)), is 0.35 or more and 1 or less. As such, claim 2 is objected to for containing otherwise allowable subject matter, and would be allowed if rewritten in independent format.
Claim 3 depends upon claim 2. Claim 6 depends upon claim 2, and claim 7 depends upon claim 3.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishii et al. (US20190076920, hereinafter referred to as Ishii).
Regarding claim 1, Ishii discloses a cubic boron nitride sintered body (see Ishii at [0036], disclosing a sintered material of cBN) comprising cubic boron nitride (see Ishii at the Abstract, disclosing cubic boron nitride) and a binder phase (see Ishii at the Abstract, disclosing a metallic binder phase), wherein a content of the cubic boron nitride is 81 volume% or more and 95 volume% or less based on a total amount of the sintered body (see Ishii at Table 2, Example 26, disclosing an example of a sintered body comprising 80 vol% cBN, which is close to touching the claimed range.) A prima facie case of obviousness exists where the claimed ranges or amounts do not overlap with the prior art but are merely close. (see MPEP 2144.05(I), second paragraph), a content of the binder phase is 5 volume% or more and 19 volume% or less based on the total amount of the sintered body (see Ishii at Table 2, Example 26, disclosing an example of a sintered body comprising 20 vol% binder, which is close to touching the claimed range.), a content of Al in the binder phase is 0.5 mass% or more and 5 mass% or less based on 100 mass% in total of all elements contained in the sintered body (see Ishii at Table 2, Example 26, disclosing an example of a sintered body comprising 3 mass% Al), a content of W in the binder phase is 2 mass% or more and 10 mass% or less based on 100 mass% in total of all the elements contained in the sintered body (see Ishii at Table 2, Example 26, disclosing an example of a sintered body comprising 4.5 mass% W), a content of V in the binder phase is 2 mass% or more and 8 mass% or less based on 100 mass% in total of all the elements contained in the sintered body (see Ishii at Table 2, Example 26, disclosing an example of a sintered body comprising 10 mass% V, which is close to touching the claimed range), and a content of Cr in the binder phase is 0 mass% or more and 5 mass% or less based on 100 mass% in total of all the elements contained in the sintered body (see Ishii at Table 2, Example 26, disclosing an example of a sintered body comprising 0% Cr.).
Regarding claim 4, Ishii discloses wherein an average particle size of the cubic boron nitride is 0.5 µm or more and 3.0 µm or less (see Ishii at (see Ishii at Table 2, Example 26, disclosing an example of a sintered body comprising cBN with a particle size of 1 µm.).
Conclusion
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CAMERON K MILLER
Examiner
Art Unit 1731
/CAMERON K MILLER/Examiner, Art Unit 1731