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 .
The amendment dated 12/11/2025 has been considered and entered. The amendment overcomes the previous rejections in view of Fu et al. (US 2021/0062042) for failing to teach the composition having zirconyl acetate as claimed. Therefore, the previous rejections are withdrawn and new rejections are made below as necessitated by the amendment.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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.
Claims 1 – 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakagai et al. (WO 2022/168859) which is published in English as Nakagai et al. (US 2024/0117218) and which is relied upon for making the current rejections.
In regards to claims 1 – 14, Nakagai teaches polishing method and composition applied to polishing of silicon carbide (i.e., semiconductor substrate) and comprising a permanganate, metal salt A and water (abstract). The composition has a pH of preferably 5 or less [0010]. The permanganate can be sodium or potassium permanganate present in the composition at from about 5 mM (0.005 mol/L) to 2500 mM which provides calculated mass basis of sodium permanganate at from 0.07 to 35.4% or potassium permanganate 0.08 to 39.5% based on respective molar masses of 142 g/mol and 158 g/mol respectively in the aqueous solution [0016, 0017]. The metal salt A is a salt of an acid such as acetic acid (i.e., weak acid) etc. and a metal such as zirconia (i.e., zirconyl acetate) and is present in the composition at 1000 mM or less and from 0.1 mM or more which provides calculated amounts of the salt such as zirconyl acetate at from 0.003 to 32.74% in the composition based on a molar mass of 327.4 g/mol [0022, 0024]. The ratio of the permanganate to the metal salt A such as zirconyl acetate is from 0.002 to 200 [0025]. Therefore, the claimed limitations are overlapped.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/TAIWO OLADAPO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771