DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Acknowledgement of preliminary amendment dated 11/21/2023 including remarks and amended abstract, specification and claims1.
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.
Domestic Benefit
Present application 18/563,314 filed 11/21/2023 is a National Stage entry of PCT/CN2022/096225 with international filing date of 05/31/2022.
PCT/CN2022/096225 claims priority from provisional application 63/195,140 filed 05/31/2021.
Foreign Priority
No claim to an application for foreign priority.
Four Information Disclosure Statements
The four information disclosure statements respectively submitted on 05/17/24, 03/20/25, 04/15/25 and 07/23/25 were filed before first Office action. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the four information disclosure statements have been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-5, 7-8, 11-17, 19 and 29 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.
Independent claims 1 and 12 recite the term, “isomer”, however a person of ordinary skill in the art would not understand what/which compound is actually meant with the said term.
The dependent claims do not remedy this indefiniteness and are rejected for incorporating the indefiniteness from their respective independent claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1, 7, 11, 20, 23 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by journal article entitled Photophysical Properties of Phosphorescent Mono- and Bimetallic Platinum(II) Complexes with C∧C* Cyclometalating NHC Ligands to Pinter et al. (“Pinter”).
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Regarding independent claim 1 and dependent claims 7, 11 and 29, Pinter teaches of platinum complexes 2 and 3 with chemical structural diagrams in Scheme 1 on page 557. Complex 3 of Pinter appears to teach claim 7. Complex 2 of Pinter teaches claim 11. Pinter teaches claim 29 because there is an OLED mentioned with the aforementioned light emitters in column 1 of page 557.
Regarding independent claim 20 and dependent claim 23, Pinter teaches of the preparation of complexes 2 and 3: 1-methyl-3-phenyl-3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine-1-ium iodide reacts with Pt(COD)Cl2 and pyrazole (or 1Bu-pyrazole). See the experimental section in the right column on page 560 to paragraph 1 in the left column on page 561. Therefore, claim 20 and claim 23 are taught by Pinter.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The combination needed to teach claims 2-5 and 8 appears to be impermissible hindsight.
Claim 12 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Regarding independent claim 12, the difference between claim 12 and the prior art of Pinter is that the pyrazole ligand bridging two metal platinums contain a linking group L. However, the two pyrazole ligands in Pinter are independent of each other, they are not connected to each other. As such, claim 12 and dependent claims thereof are allowed.
Claims 13-17 and 19 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 25 and 27 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure as listed on the current Notice of References Cited-892 Form:
Reference A: see column 3.
Reference B: see Figures 2-4
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN P DULKA whose telephone number is (571)270-7398. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ELISEO RAMOS-FELICIANO can be reached at (571)272-7925. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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07 January 2026
/John P. Dulka/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
1 Claims 6,9,10,18,21,22,24,26,28 and 30-36 are canceled in preliminary amendment.
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