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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Election/Restrictions
1. Applicant's election with traverse of Group I, claims 1-13, in the reply filed on 04/16/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that “the Examiner has not provided any indication that the content of the claims interpreted in light of the description was considered in making the assertion of a lack of unity and therefore has not met the burden necessary to support the assertion...” (Applicants’ response page 2). This is not found persuasive because of the following reasons.
It is considered the inventions lack of unity because the method of Group I and the apparatus of Group II are not related to each other as Group I is drawn to a method of producing a lithium compound, whereas Group II is drawn to an apparatus for producing a lithium compound. Even though the method of Group I requires the use of a reaction tank 1, a reaction tank 2, an electrochemical device, a separation device, etc., the claims of Group I are not called for “an apparatus”. The “apparatus” of claim 14 is currently not being included in the method claims, only some of the components or parts of the apparatus of claim 14 are being included in the method claims of Group I. It is also considered that the method of Group I can be carried out by using any reactor, mixer equipment, etc. since there is no special technical or inventive feature in the reaction tank 1, reaction tank 2, and an electrochemical device being recited in the method claim 1. For purposes of search and examination on the merits, the claims will remain restricted.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
2. Claims 14-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 04/16/2026.
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
The foreign document JAPAN JP2021-063165 (filed on 04/01/2021) has been received and placed in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/02/2023 and 03/24/2026 have been made of record and entered. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner. An initialed copy of the IDS accompanies this office action.
Status of Application
5. This application is a 371 of PCT/JP2022/017005, which was filed on 04/01/2022.
Claims 1-16 were originally presented in this application for examination.
Claims 1-16 are currently pending in this application for examination.
Specification
6. The examiner has not checked the specification to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors (grammatical, typographical, and idiomatic). Cooperation of the applicant(s) is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant(s) may become aware of in the specification, in the claims and in any further amendment(s) that applicant(s) may file.
Applicant(s) is also requested to complete the status of the copending applications referred to in the specification by their Attorney Docket Number or Application Serial Number, if any.
The status of the parent application(s) and/or any other application(s) cross-referenced to this application, if any, should be updated in a timely manner.
Claim Objections
7. Claims 1 & 6 are objected to because of the following informalities:
A. In claim 1, line 6, “returning an organic acid” should change to –returning the organic acid--.
B. In claim 1, line 7, “by-produced” should change to --by-product--.
C. In claim 6, “any one of claims 1 to 7” appears improper since claim 7 comes after claim 6.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b) (Second Paragraph)
8. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The limitation on “an organic acid metal by-produced by producing the aqueous lithium hydroxide solution” in claim 1 appears unclear as to what Applicants intended. The phrase “an organic acid metal” also lacks of sufficient antecedent basis in the claim because it is unclear as to where the organic acid metal comes from in the method being claimed.
*Claims 2-13 are rejected because they depend on rejected claim 1 and they do not cure the indefiniteness.
Allowable Subject Matter
9. Claims 1-13 are allowable over the prior art made of record. The following is a statement of reason(s) for allowing the claimed subject matter.
*The claims would be allowed if the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) is overcome.
Brereton et al. (US 2019/0031527 A1) is found to be the most relevant prior art that teaches the claimed method for producing a lithium compound comprising mixing lithium carbonate, an acid containing organic acid, and water in a reaction tank 1 to produce an aqueous organic acid lithium solution containing an organic acid lithium; mixing the organic acid lithium and a metal hydroxide in a reaction tank 2 to produce an aqueous lithium hydroxide solution (see Abstract; pages 4-5, claims 1-21; page 3, [0023] and Fig. 2).
However, Brereton et al. does not teach “returning the organic acid, which is regenerated by using an electrochemical device from mixing the organic acid lithium and a metal hydroxide to produce an aqueous lithium hydroxide solution, to the reaction tank 1 and using the regenerated organic acid as the organic acid” as recited in the instant claim 1.
There would be no motivation to combine the teachings of the prior art references together to arrive to the claimed invention.
Citations
10. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. All references are cited for related art. See PTO-892 Form prepared.
US 8,431,005 B1 (relates to a method for recovering lithium from lithium-containing materials, ores, etc. by separation and crystallization).
US 10,336,624 B2 (relates to a method of producing high-purity lithium carbonate from low-purity crude lithium carbonate by solid-liquid separation).
US 11,932,550 B2 (relates to a method for processing of lithium containing brines by filtration of lithium containing brine, ion exchanging, precipitation, and crystallization).
US 2023/0019776 A1 (relates to a method of treating a lithium solution from a feed stream comprising lithium ions through a cation exchange resins).
Conclusion
11. Claims 1-16 are pending. Claims 1-13 are rejected. Claims 14-16 are withdrawn. No claims are allowed.
Contacts
12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner CAM N. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1357. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8:30 am – 5:00 pm) at alternative worksite or at cam.nguyen@uspto.gov.
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, Anthony Zimmer, can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Cam N. Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/CNN/
July 08, 2026
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