DETAILED ACTION
Double Patenting
Claims 4-6, 16, and 18-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 3-5, and 15-17 of U.S. Patent No. 11,749,834. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the same method is recited. The conflicting claims recite the same five steps including providing a sulfur precursor material, synthesizing a boron compound (e.g., B2O3), combining the precursor materials, melting, and cooling the melt. With respect to the purity of greater than 99%, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to purity starting materials to the greatest extent reasonably possible to avoid side reactions and impurities in the final composition.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 and 7-15 are allowable.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: novel over the closest prior art cited in the Reasons for Allowance of parent case 16/509,385, now US 11,749,834. Specifically, the prior art fails to teach step ii) of providing a boron precursor material comprising boron as a first constituent element and lithium as a second constituent, the boron precursor material formed by making a lithium boron alloy or intermetallic via chemical reduction of a boron compound to elemental boron by lithium metal.
Conclusion
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/CARLOS BARCENA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1723