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 without traverse of Invention I, Species 1 directed to Claims 1-4, 6, 7 and 9-14 in the reply filed on 11/11/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 and 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Choi et al. 20220310970.
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Regarding claim 1, figs. 3-4 of Choi discloses a display apparatus comprising:
a display panel 10 including a display area DA and a bending area BA which is spaced apart from the display area and at which the display panel is bendable to define a bent portion; and
a cover window CW which is in the bending area (see CW overlapping BA) and covers the display panel,
wherein the display panel which is bent includes an adjacent portion OA of the display panel which is closer to the cover window than the bent portion (see figs. 3-4 showing OA which is unbent and overlaps BA in fig. 4 and since OA is unbent which is therefore closer to the CW the BA), overlaps the bent portion and is unbent (fig. 4 shows as such).
Regarding claim 2, fig. 4 of Choi discloses wherein the display panel which is bent further includes the bent portion under the adjacent portion and further from the cover window than the adjacent portion.
Regarding claim 3, fig. 4 of Choi discloses wherein the display panel which is bent further includes an entirety of the bent portion within a planar area of the adjacent portion (see bottom portion of BA which is within orthogonal projection region of OA).
Regarding claim 4, fig. 4 of Choi discloses wherein the display panel which is bent includes the adjacent portion DISL separated from the bent portion along a thickness direction.
Regarding claim 6, fig. 4 of Choi discloses further comprising a separation layer (PL1a nad PL2) between the adjacent portion and the bent portion along a thickness direction.
Regarding claim 7, fig. 4 of Choi discloses wherein the display panel which is bent includes the separation layer Pl1a in contact with the adjacent portion and spaced apart from the bent portion.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 recites “wherein the adjacent portion includes the pixel-defining layer and the encapsulation layer on the separation layer, and the bent portion includes the insulating layer under the separation layer, and the display panel which is bent includes the insulating layer of the bent portion spaced apart from the separation layer” is not taught by the references of record.
Claims 9-14 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.
Conclusion
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/VONGSAVANH SENGDARA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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