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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 5-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kwon et al. (EP 2587566 A2, hereinafter Kwon).
Re Claim 1. Kwon teaches a lithium secondary battery (Fig. 1 & 7, item 10, para. 28) comprising:
an electrode assembly (item 30); and
a pouch (item 20) in which the electrode assembly is housed, wherein the pouch comprises:
a housing portion (concave part of item 20) configured to house the electrode assembly;
a peripheral portion (edge part of item 20) around the housing portion; and
a coating portion (Fig. 7, item 90) formed along an inner lateral surface of the housing portion and spaced apart from a side portion of the electrode assembly (Fig. 7).
Re Claim 2. Kwon teaches wherein the pouch comprises a terrace region (Fig. 7, item A’) defined by a separation space between the coating portion and the side portion of the electrode assembly.
Re Claim 5. Kwon teaches wherein the housing portion further comprises a central surface (Fig. 7, a horizontal surface of item 20) facing the electrode assembly in a thickness direction thereof, and the coating portion is formed on the inner lateral surface of the housing portion and is not formed on the central surface (Fig. 7).
Re Claim 6. Kwon teaches wherein the peripheral portion comprises a sealing surface (Fig. 7, part of item 20 where item 80 is disposed), and the coating portion is not formed on the sealing surface (Fig. 7).
Re Claim 7. Kwon teaches wherein the housing portion comprises a first housing portion (Fig. 1, top of item 20) and a second housing portion (bottom of item 20) which face each other, and the peripheral portion further comprises a folding surface (Fig. 1) which divides the first housing portion and the second housing portion.
Re Claim 8. Kwon teaches wherein the coating portion is not formed on the folding surface (Fig. 1 & 7).
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.
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) 3 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon.
Kwon fails to specifically teach that (re Claim 3) a ratio of an average width of the terrace region in a long-axis direction to a long-axis length of the housing portion is 1/5 to 1/50, and (re Claim 4) a ratio of an average thickness of the coating portion to an average thickness of the pouch is 1/10 to 1/50.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the invention of Kwon to perform routine experimentation to find the optimum ratio of an average width of the terrace region in a long-axis direction to a long-axis length of the housing portion and the optimum ratio of an average thickness of the coating portion to an average thickness of the pouch, which provide both effective shock absorbance and portability to the battery.
Claim(s) 9-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kim (WO 2023/059139 A1).
The teachings of Kwon have been discussed above.
Re Claim 9. Kwon further teaches that the pouch has a laminate structure (para. 27) comprising a sealant layer, a metal layer (para. 27), but fails to specifically teach a coating layer.
The invention of Kim encompasses pouch type battery case. Kim teaches the pouch (Fig. 4) has a laminate structure comprising a sealant layer (item 202), a metal layer (item 201), and a coating layer (item 203).
In view of Kim, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the invention of Kwon to employ a coating layer, since Kim teaches the advantage of using it, which is to electrically insulate the electrode assembly and protect the battery from friction and collision with the outside (P6).
Re Claim 10. The combination teaches the sealant layer includes a polyolefin resin (Kim, P6), the metal layer includes aluminum (Kwon, para. 27 & Kim, P6), and the coating layer includes nylon (P6).
Re Claim 11. The combination fails to specifically teach that the coating portion has a greater tensile strength than a tensile strength of the sealant layer.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the invention of Kwon in view of Kim to have the coating portion having a greater tensile strength than a tensile strength of the sealant layer, to protect the electrode assembly.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
The rejections above rely on the references for all the teachings expressed in the text of the references and/or one of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably understood from the texts. Only specific portions of the texts have been pointed out to emphasize certain aspects of the prior art, however, each reference as a whole should be reviewed in responding to the rejection, since other sections of the same reference and/or various combinations of the cited references may be relied on in future rejections in view of amendments.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN E YOON whose telephone number is (571)270-5932. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9 AM- 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Keith Walker can be reached at 571-272-3458. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN E YOON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1735
2/5/2026