The arguments and amendments submitted 12/22/2025 have been considered. The merits of the claims are discussed below.
Election/Restrictions
Claim 10 is directed to an allowable product. Pursuant to the procedures set forth in MPEP § 821.04(B), claims 15-20, directed to the process of making or using an allowable product, previously withdrawn from consideration as a result of a restriction requirement, are hereby rejoined and fully examined for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104.
In view of the withdrawal of the restriction requirement, applicant(s) are advised that if any claim presented in a continuation or divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application. Once the restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 21 and 22 each recite "an orthogonal projection of the side wall of the first substrate on the second substrate". It is unclear what the orientation of the recited orthogonal projection is on the second substrate and which surface on the second substrate has the orthogonal projection on it. For the purpose of examination, claims 21 and 22 each read on “an orthogonal projection of the side wall of the first substrate on an outer surface of the second substrate".
Claims 21 and 22 each recite "an orthogonal projection of a side wall of the adhesive layer on the second substrate". It is unclear what the orientation of the recited orthogonal projection is on the second substrate and which surface on the second substrate has the orthogonal projection on it. For the purpose of examination, claims 21 and 22 each read on “an orthogonal projection of a side wall of the adhesive layer on the outer surface of the second substrate".
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4 and 7-20 are allowed.
Claims 21-22 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 1, 10, and 15 are allowed in view of the present amendments, which distinguish over the prior art of record.
Goldman (US PG Pub 2023/0150200), Yamada (US PG Pub 2019/0310507), and Park (US PG Pub 2023/0292563), each made of record previously, are the closest prior art of record for claims 1, 10 and 15. The teachings of these references which are relevant to claims 1, 10, and 15 are discussed in sections 6 and 17 of the previous office action.
Response to Arguments
The previous 103 rejections of the claims have been withdrawn in view of the present amendment of claims 1 and 10 for the reasons given above.
Conclusion
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/JRS/
Examiner
Art Unit 1745
/JIMMY R SMITH JR./Examiner, Art Unit 1745