DETAILED ACTION
The following Office action concerns Patent Application Number 18/528,235. Claims 1-4 and 6-13 are pending in the application. Claims 6-13 are withdrawn from consideration as being drawn to non-elected species.
The applicant’s amendment filed May 26, 2026 has been entered.
The previous indication of allowable subject matter is withdrawn in view of the IDS filed March 30, 2026.
The restriction requirement as to claims 6-13 is reinstated since the notice of allowable subject has been withdrawn.
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 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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Seo et al (US 12,410,180).
Seo et al teaches a light emitting device comprising a two electrodes and a light emitting layer and an electron transport layer between the electrodes (col. 12, lines 45-60). The electron transport layer includes two or more compounds (col 43, lines 19-35).
One of the compounds has the structure:
PNG
media_image1.png
108
246
media_image1.png
Greyscale
(col. 3, line 15), wherein Ar1 includes the structure:
PNG
media_image2.png
185
181
media_image2.png
Greyscale
(col. 4, line 45), and wherein R1 and R2 include hydrogen and the substituent:
PNG
media_image3.png
153
216
media_image3.png
Greyscale
(col. 3, lines 39-42; col. 5, line 60), wherein Q includes oxygen or sulfur (col. 10, line 60). The above compound satisfies formula (G4-1).
A second compound of the electron transport layer includes NBphen, which is heteroaromatic (col. 43, line 61). NBphen has the structure:
PNG
media_image4.png
184
309
media_image4.png
Greyscale
(col. 57, line 35). NBphen satisfies formula (G2-1).
The examiner submits that selection of the above compounds would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art since Seo et al teaches an electron transport layer comprising each of the recited compounds.
Conclusion
The applicant's IDS filed after the first action on the merits 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Examiner’s Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to William Young whose telephone number is (571) 270-5078. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew, can be reached at 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000./WILLIAM D YOUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761 June 25, 2026
Prosecution Insights