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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Korea on October 5, 2023 and December 14, 2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the KR10-2023-0132910 or KR10-2022-0174874 applications as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on March 5, 2024, December 2, 2024, and September 29, 2025 have been considered by the examiner.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Huang, et al. (US 10,975,487 B1).
Regarding claims 1-6, Huang teaches an electrolytic copper foil particularly applicable to lithium-ion batteries (Col. 1, Ln. 17-19). Huang teaches that the copper foil has improved mechanical properties, achieving excellent wrinkle resistance and reducing or preventing wrinkles and breakage, thus increasing production yield (Col. 2, Ln. 3-9). Huang teaches that the base copper layer of the electrolytic copper foil is a bare copper foil (Col. 2, Ln. 33-35), with Examples 1-9 including 45-47.5 ppm additives (Col. 8, Ln. 35-40) (copper film including 99.9 wt% or more of copper).
While it is acknowledged that a room temperature storage modulus, room temperature loss modulus, high-temperature storage modulus, and high-temperature loss modulus of the copper foil are not expressly recited by Huang, the claimed properties of a room temperature loss factor of 0.05 or less, a high-temperature loss factor of 0.2 or less, a room temperature storage modulus of 30-80 GPa, a room temperature loss modulus of 5 GPa or less, a high-temperature storage modulus of 20-60 GPa, and a high-temperature loss modulus of 10 GPa or less would be inherent to the material taught by the reference. The claimed properties would be achieved with an electrolytic copper foil having substantially the same composition formed by substantially the same process. The instant specification has not provided adequate teachings that the claimed property is only obtainable with the claimed material.
As evidence that the claimed properties are inherent to the electrolytic copper foil taught by Huang, the references teaches a copper foil having substantially the same composition formed by substantially the same process. Paragraphs [0010]-[0011] of the instant specification teach that the copper foil is not curled, wrinkled, or teared during the manufacturing process, allowing the copper film to have a room temperature loss factor of 0.05 or less and a high-temperature loss factor of 0.2 or less. In looking to the composition of the copper foil, paragraph [0099] of the instant specification discloses that when the lead ions are maintained at 1-100 ppm, the room temperature loss factor may be maintained at 0.05 or less and the high-temperature loss factor may be maintained at 0.2 or less. Paragraphs [00107]-[00120] include teachings of the organic additives, specifically the inclusion of a polishing agent such as sulfonic acid or metal salt at the concentration of 5-20 ppm (¶ [00111]), a moderator such as a non-ionic water-soluble polymer at a concentration of 1-10 ppm (¶ [00113]), and a leveling agent including at least one of nitrogen and sulfur at a concentration of 1-10 ppm (¶ [00118]). In the first example of the instant specification, a copper foil is prepared using an electrolytic bath containing 5 ppm of the polishing agent, 2 ppm of the moderator, 3 ppm of the leveling agent, 20 ppm chlorine, 30 ppm lead, 2 mL/L hydrogen peroxide, and 1 ppm tungsten, set to a temperature of 55 °C and a current density of 60 ASD.
With respect to the wrinkling of the of the copper foil, Huang teaches that the purpose of the electrolytic foil is to improve or even avoid the formation of wrinkles (Col. 1, Ln. 61-65). Specifically, Huang teaches that the surface of the electrolytic copper foils were observed using a cutting machine to determine whether wrinkles appeared, with none of the electrolytic copper foils of the examples displaying wrinkles (Col. 14, Ln. 56-67; Table 1).
With respect to the composition of the electrolytic solution, Huang teaches example copper electrolyte solutions including 35 mg/L chloride ions, 5 ppm lead ions, 2.5-5.0 mg/L polyvinylpyrrolidone (non-ionic water-soluble polymer) and 2.5 mg/L 3-(amidinothio)-1-propanesulfonic acid (sulfonic acid including sulfur) as additives (Col. 8, Ln. 35-40).
With respect to the processing, Huang teaches that during the electrodeposition step, the temperature of the copper electrolyte is controlled at 52°C and a current density of 40 ASD is applied (Col. 8, Ln. 48-53). Therefore, Huang teaches an electrolytic copper foil with substantially the same composition and formed by substantially the same process, and thus would achieve the claimed properties of a room temperature loss factor of 0.05 or less, a high-temperature loss factor of 0.2 or less, a room temperature storage modulus of 30-80 GPa, a room temperature loss modulus of 5 GPa or less, a high-temperature storage modulus of 20-60 GPa, and a high-temperature loss modulus of 10 GPa or less.
Regarding claim 7, Huang teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 above and further teaches that the base copper layer of the electrolytic copper foil may be subjected to a surface treatment (Col. 2, Ln. 51-56). Huang teaches anti-corrosion, passivation, and silane coupling surface treatments (forming a protective layer) (Col. 3, Ln. 6-9).
Regarding claim 8, Huang teaches all of the limitations of claim 7 above and further teaches that the anti-corrosion treatment may include a chromium-containing material (Col. 3, Ln. 64-66). For example, the first surface treatment of the examples taught by Huang include immersing the bare copper foil in a chromate solution anti-corrosion treatment (Col. 8, Ln. 57-64).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH J JACOBSON whose telephone number is (703)756-1647. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Ruthkosky can be reached at (571) 272-1291.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SARAH J JACOBSON/Examiner, Art Unit 1785
/MARK RUTHKOSKY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1785
Prosecution Insights