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
2. Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (Claims 1-17 and 24) and Species II-b (Claim 12) in the reply filed on April 16, 2026, is acknowledged. In a phone call dated April 21, 2026, attorney Clinton Wimbish further elected Species I-c (Claim 9).
3. Claims 3-8, 11, 13 and 18-23 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species I-a, Species I-b, Species II-a, Species II-c and Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on April 16, 2026.
4. Therefore, Claims 1-2, 9-10, 12, 14-17 and 24 are pending in this office action.
Priority
5. Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
6. Information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted October 16, 2023, has been received and considered by the examiner.
Examiner’s Note
7. There are several grammatical errors in the claims that are recommended to be amended to more suitable claim language. For example, the limitations of Claim 9, “wherein said nonwoven being” and “wherein said nonwoven being made of”, could be changed to “wherein said nonwoven is one of a carded nonwoven…” and “wherein said nonwoven is made of…”. The same goes for Claim 12, “wherein said coating being made of…”. Claims 16-17 could be more properly recited as, “A battery, cell, pack or module, comprising the separator of claim 1”, and “ A device, product, system or vehicle, comprising the battery, cell, pack or module of claim 16”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
8. 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
9. Claim 14 is 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. It is unclear from the claim language as to whether the microporous membrane is to have a single play, multi plies, two plies, or three plies.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Claims 1-2, 9-10, 12, 14-17 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shi et al. (US 2005/0014063 A1).
With regard to Claims 1 and 24, Shi et al. disclose a battery separator for a lithium battery (paragraph 0001), comprising at least one microporous membrane or layer, at least one nonwoven flat sheet material, and an adhesive material bonding the nonwoven flat sheet to the microporous membrane (paragraph 0009). Shi et al. disclose wherein the nonwoven flat sheet is made up of a plurality of fibers held together by various methods, and wherein the nonwoven fibers ate coated or surface treated to improve the functionality of the nonwoven and improve the adhesiveness of nonwoven or its fibers (paragraphs 0013-0017). Shi et al. disclose wherein at least one of said separator, said microporous membrane, and said nonwoven layer include at least one of: at least one ferroelectric ferroelectric polymer, wherein said polymer being selected from the group consisting of polyethylene oxide (PEO), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyurethane (PU), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polytetraethylene glycol diacrylate, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), co-polymers thereof, and blends containing the foregoing, wherein said ferroelectric polymer being selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), co-polymers thereof, and blends containing the foregoing, wherein said polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) co-polymer being selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride:hexafluoropropylene (PVDF:HFP) and polyvinylidene fluoride:chlorotrifluoroethylene (PVDF:CTFE) (paragraphs 0013-0018).
With regard to Claim 2, Shi et al. disclose wherein said battery separator being a battery separator for a secondary lithium battery, a lithium ion battery, or a lithium polymer battery (paragraph 0001).
With regard to Claim 9, Shi et al. disclose wherein said nonwoven being a carded nonwoven, a needle-punched nonwoven, an air-laid nonwoven, a wet-laid nonwoven, a spunlaced (hydroentangled) nonwoven, a spunbonded nonwoven, a melt-spun nonwoven, an electro-spun nonwoven, and combinations thereof, wherein said nonwoven being made of staple fibers, and/or continuous filaments, wherein said nonwoven having a thickness of less than 1 mil (25.4 microns), wherein said nonwoven having a thickness of less than 0.5 mil (12.7 microns), wherein said nonwoven having a thickness of less than 0.25 mil (6.4 microns), or combinations thereof (paragraph 0013).
With regard to Claim 10, Shi et al. disclose wherein said nonwoven further comprising a coating (paragraph 0014).
With regard to Claim 12, Shi et al. disclose wherein said coating being made of a ferroelectric polymer, wherein said ferroelectric polymer being selected from the group consisting of polyethylene oxide (PEO), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyurethane (PU), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polytetraethylene glycol diacrylate, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), co-polymers thereof, and blends containing the foregoing, wherein said ferroelectric polymer being selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), co-polymers thereof, and blends containing the foregoing, wherein said polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) co-polymer being selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride:hexafluoropropylene (PVDF:HFP) and polyvinylidene fluoride: chlorotrifluoroethylene (PVDF:CTFE), or combinations thereof (paragraphs 0013-0018).
With regard to Claim 14, Shi et al. disclose wherein said microporous membrane layer has: a porosity in the range of from 35%-85%, preferably 40%-80%, which meets the claimed limitation of about 20-80%, an average pore size in the range of from 0.01 10 microns, which meets the claimed limitation of about 0.02 to 2 microns, and a Gurley Number in the range of no more than 40 sec, which meets the claimed limitation of about 15 to 150 sec (paragraphs 0012), and wherein said microporous membrane has a single ply, wherein said single ply being made of a polyolefin, wherein said polyolefin being selected from the group consisting of: polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polymethylpetene (PMP), polybutene (PB), co-polymers of the foregoing, and blends of the foregoing, wherein said polyolefin being selected from the group consisting of: polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), co-polymers of the foregoing, and blends of the foregoing, wherein said polyolefin being selected from the group consisting of: polyethylene (PE), co-polymers of the foregoing, and blends of the foregoing, wherein said polyolefin being polyethylene (PE) (paragraph 0012).
With regard to Claim 15, Shi et al. disclose wherein said separator is a composite or laminate battery separator (paragraphs 0010-0011). The recitation, “made by the steps of: unwinding a nonwoven, unwinding a microporous membrane, coating the nonwoven with a coating material, and laminating the coated nonwoven to the microporous membrane; or, by the steps of: unwinding a nonwoven, unwinding a microporous membrane, laminating the nonwoven to the microporous membrane, and coating the nonwoven with a coating material; and, wherein the coating material containing a ferroelectric material, wherein the coating material containing a ferroelectric material and a filler, or combinations thereof”, is considered a product-by-process limitation. Product-by-process claims are not limited to the manipulations of the recited steps, only the structure implied by the steps. “Even though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process.” In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
With regard to Claim 16, Shi et al. disclose a battery, cell, pack, or module, comprising the separator noted above (paragraphs 0002-0003).
With regard to Claim 17, Shi et al. disclose a device, product, system, or vehicle, comprising the battery, cell, pack, or module noted above (paragraphs 0002-0003).
Conclusion
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KARIE O APICELLA whose telephone number is (571)272-8614. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 5:00PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicole Buie-Hatcher can be reached at 571-270-3879. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KARIE O'NEILL APICELLA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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