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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe et al. (JP 2000-119068).
Regarding claim 1, Watanabe discloses a setter comprising a boron nitride sintered plate with a porous structure, see abstract and [0001]. The reference further discloses that the porous boron nitride sintered body has a porosity of 40 to 60% by volume [0018]. Note that the disclosed range overlaps the claimed ranges and that a prima facie case of obviousness exists where ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art”; see MPEP 2144.05 I. Additionally, the reference discloses the average pore diameter of the through holes is preferably 1 micron or less [0013]. Given the average pore diameter is 1 micron or less, the reference is considered to render obvious the claimed proportion of pore having a pore diameter of 0.2 to 0.9 microns; see MPEP 2144.05 I. Lastly, it is noted that the claimed method of measuring the porosity does not structurally limit the claim.
Regarding claim 2, while the reference does not specifically disclose the claimed coefficient of thermal expansion, given the disclosed material and the claimed material have the same composition and microstructure (i.e. porous boron nitride), it is expected the disclosed and claimed setters will have the same coefficient of thermal expansion; see above discussion and MPEP 2112.01 II: “if the composition is physically the same, it must have the same properties.”
Regarding claim 3, given the reference discloses the porous structure as through-holes, the reference is considered to disclose all the pores as open pores [0013].
Regarding claims 4 and 5, the reference discloses the boron nitride as having a purity of 99% or more by weight, which is considered to render obvious the claimed content of iron and of calcium [0018].
Regarding claims 6 and 7, given the reference discloses the average pore diameter as 1 micron or less, the reference is considered to render obvious the claimed value of the peak position in a distribution curve of the pore diameters [0013]; see MPEP 2144.05 I.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAURA A AUER whose telephone number is (571)270-5669. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9 am - 4 pm EST.
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/LAURA A AUER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783
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