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
Applicant’s election with traverse of Claims 8-17 in the reply filed on 9/2/25 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Groups I and II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claims 8-10 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Weiser (DE 102015107585).
Regarding claim 8, Weiser discloses: A cutting plate for drilling or milling (Abstract; milling cutter), said cutting plate being produced from a powder mixture (Paragraph 0005) of hard metal and a binder (Paragraph 0005) by a compression tool (Abstract; see fig. 10), which after pressing includes two substantially parallel main surfaces (see annotated fig. below), a peripheral edge surface (see annotated fig. below) extends between the main surfaces at a periphery thereof and connects the same, which main surfaces include depressions (see annotated fig. below and on other side of plate) extending at least partly to the peripheral edge surface such that cutting edges (see annotated fig. below) are formed at an intersection of a bottom of said depressions and at least a part (see annotated fig. below, where cutting edge is at end of depressions and transitions into the peripheral edge surface) of said edge surface.
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Furthermore, Weiser discloses a device whose components members could have been made by the method to form a green body, the green bodies each having two substantially parallel main surfaces, the compression tool including a cavity arranged to receive the powder mixture, and at least two side punches moveable towards each other along at least a first direction for forming the edge surfaces and at least one heading punch moveable substantially perpendicular to the first direction for compacting the powder mixture to form the green body, front faces of the side punches being arranged to form at least a part of the peripheral edge surface of the green body, wherein one the side punches may be replaced by a fixed side wall of a die, wherein there are provided two heading tools on two remaining opposite sides of the cavity, which are moveable towards each other along a common axis and perpendicular and towards a plane defined by the main surfaces, each of the heading tools including at least two parts, a main punch and an independently moveable form punch, a cross-section of which extends to the front face of at least one side punch, wherein a front face of the form punch is moveable towards the cavity beyond a front face of the main punch in order to form the depression, such as a web thinning of the green body, wherein the pressing step includes a first pressing step wherein the form punch is moved towards the powder mixture to form a preliminarily compressed portion of the green body adjacent the peripheral edge surface and including an area designated to become an area of a minimal final thickness of the green body, and a second pressing step wherein the main punch and the form punch are both moved towards a final position to provide the green body with its final dimensions of the parallel main surfaces including the depressions and during sintering the corresponding green body. Furthermore, “sinter the green body to produce a cutting plate” is considered a Product-by-Process limitation. (See MPEP Section 2113). Even though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. Once the examiner provides a rationale tending to show that the claimed product appears to be the same or similar to that of the prior art, although produced by a different process, the burden shifts to applicant to come forward with evidence establishing an unobvious difference between the claimed product and the prior art product. In re Marosi, 710 F.2d 798, 802, 218 USPQ 289, 292 (Fed. Cir. 1983).
Regarding claim 9, Weiser discloses wherein the thickness of the plate is less than one half of the maximum diameter of the plate as measured through a center of gravity and parallel to the planes defined by the main surfaces (see fig. 3c of Weiser).
Regarding claim 10, Weiser discloses the cutting plate being a double sided plate (see fig. 4a) including cutting edges at a transition of oppositely arranged edge surfaces to the main surfaces (#411, #412, #421, #422 cutting edges transition surface #431 that divides #421 and #422).
Regarding claim 15, Weiser discloses the cutting plate is symmetric with respect to rotation by 180° about a central axis extending in an intermediate plane between the main surfaces and parallel thereto through the center of gravity and the center of a dead end at a tip of the cutting plate (see fig. 10 of Weiser, where molds are symmetric and thus cutting plates are symmetric).
Regarding claim 16, Weiser discloses wherein a thinnest area of the cutting plate is an area of the dead end (see annotated fig. below of Weiser).
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Regarding claim 17, Weiser discloses wherein at least one depression on either side is the web thinning (see annotated fig. below of Weiser), wherein the web thinnings on opposite sides of the main surfaces are arranged such that a lowermost point of said at least one depression is approaching a same position on the edge surface (see annotated fig. below of Weiser).
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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.
Claims 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiser (DE 102015107585).
Weiser discloses all aspects of the invention as set forth in the rejection above.
Regarding claim 11, Weiser also discloses depressions provided with recesses (see annotated fig. 3a below; fig 3e also has similar recesses). Weiser fails to directly disclose: wherein the depressions are provided at the bottom thereof with chip-breaking and/or chip-forming projections and/or recesses as produced only by the pressing of the powder mixture into the green body. It would be obvious for someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the cutting plate (fig. 3c) of Weiser so that the depressions are provided at the bottom with recesses in order to break chips that otherwise would increase tool wear and cause poor surface finishes during machining operation.
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Regarding claim 12, Weiser fails to disclose: wherein a ratio of the minimum distance between the bottom of depressions on opposite main surfaces, in an area of the web thinning, when compared to the maximum plate thickness is less than 1/10.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to make the ratio of the minimum distance between the bottom of depressions on opposite main surfaces and the maximum plate thickness to be less than 1/10 for the purpose of providing a sufficient length of the depressions that can prove effective in machining. It has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955)
Regarding claim 13, Weiser fails to directly disclose: wherein the bottom of at least one depression or web thinning includes chip breaking and/or chip forming projections and/or recesses, individual projections or recesses within the bottom of the depressions having a shape of knobs and/or dimples and/or of grooves and/or ribs.
In the same field of endeavor, namely cutting devices, Weiser teaches: wherein the bottom of at least one depression (see annotated fig. below) includes recesses (see annotated fig. below), individual projections or recesses within the bottom of the depressions having a shape of grooves (see annotated fig. below, where depressions are in form of grooves).
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It would be obvious for someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the cutting plate (fig. 3c) of Weiser so that the bottom of depressions includes recesses and the recesses have the shape of grooves in order to break chips that otherwise would increase tool wear and cause poor surface finishes during machining operation.
Regarding claim 14, Weiser fails to directly disclose: wherein the individual projections and/or recesses at the bottom of any depression do not exceed a dimension of more than 2 mm in at least one direction.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to make the recesses at the bottom of any depression to not exceed a dimension of more than 2 mm in at least one direction for the purpose of breaking the chips correctly and avoid long stringy chips, which take more room and removing these chips will affect productivity. It has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARA ADDISU at (571) 272-6082. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (Mondays and Wednesday-Friday).
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/SARA ADDISU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3722 11/27/25