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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected method for producing a carbon fiber nonwoven fabric sheet and a carbon fiber reinforced resin molded body, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on January 2nd, 2026.
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (claims 1-10) in the reply filed on January 2nd, 2026, is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that applicant requests consideration/examination of Groups II and III in addition to Group I. This is not found persuasive because Applicant’s arguments do not state how Groups I-III lack unity of invention (i.e., the arguments amount to a statement that Groups I-III lack unity of invention with no further articulation, which is not itself persuasive on its own).
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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 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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwabori et al (JP2016151081A) in view of Heinrich et al (US2007/0004301A1). Iwabori is read from an English machine translation which has been placed in the application file.
With regards to claim 1, Iwabori discloses a nonwoven carbon fiber sheet composed of short fibers (i.e., discontinuous fibers), wherein the nonwoven carbon fiber sheet is in the form of a stack of 20 layers of carbon fiber which area aligned such that their carbon fibers are in a same direction (i.e., the carbon fiber nonwoven fabric sheet is an elongated parallel web in which two or more rectangular fiber webs having carbon fibers oriented substantially in one direction are stacked in the same direction, the carbon fibers constituting the elongated parallel web are arranged in one direction) (Iwabori - Translation: abstract; claims 1-8; page 3, Example 1).
Iwabori does not appear to disclose end portions of its carbon fiber layers (i.e., carbon fiber webs) as shifted from each other.
Heinrich is directed to a textile composite material comprising activated carbon fibers having a sheetlike structure including first and second rectangular sheetlike pieces which overlap each other at an end portion (i.e., carbon fiber webs which are shifted from each other) (Heinrich: para. [0013] and [0021]; Fig. 1B). Heinrich teaches that its overlapping structure enables the formation of end products which are infinitely adjustable in dimension or width, while also enabling efficient joining (Heinrich: para. [0013]). In addition, the overlapping assembly of Heinrich leads to increased utilization (i.e., as best understood, the process of sizing and joining according to Heinrich has improved efficiency in forming final products, such as protective articles) (Heinrich: para. [0012]-[0014]). Iwabori and Heinrich are analogous art in that they are related to the same field of endeavor of carbon fiber sheet products for protective articles. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have adopted the configuration of Heinrich for the structure of Iwabori (i.e., to form the structure of Heinrich as overlapping rectangular sheets) in order to enable the formation of a carbon fiber system which is infinitely adjustable in dimension and width, thereby allowing for efficient formation of desired products (see above discussion).
With regards to claim 2, the carbon nonwoven fabric sheet of Iwabori and Heinrich only contains short carbon fibers (i.e., 100% by mass discontinuous carbon fibers and 0% by mass fibers other than carbon fibers) (see above discussion).
With regards to claim 3, Iwabori discloses a mass per unit area of the formed carbon fiber sheet of 5 g/m2 or more (Iwabori: abstract). This range overlaps the claimed range of 1 to 1000 g/m2, thereby establishing a prima facie case of obviousness, per MPEP 2144.05.
With regards to claim 4, the number of stacked rectangular fiber webs is 20 (see above discussion).
With regards to claim 5, although Heinrich does not disclose a specific dimension of overlap, Heinrich teaches that the amount of overlap should be selected such that good joining of the adjacent sheetlike pieces is achieved, though Heinrich further cautions that a “relatively small” overlap can be helpful from the perspective of reducing material loss (Heinrich: para. [0021]). As best understood from Heinrich, the degree of overlap constitutes a result-effective variable which a person of ordinary skill is expected to optimize (see above discussion). A person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have optimized the degree of overlap, under the motivation of achieving the desired balance between joining and material loss (see above discussion).
With regards to claim 6, Iwabori discloses the carbon fibers as oriented at an angle of +/10 degrees, with 70% mass or more of the carbon fibers meeting this angle (i.e., Iwabori discloses the claimed angle, and an amount of fibers which are strictly within the claimed range) (Iwabori: page 2, “The carbon fiber constituting the carbon fiber sheet is preferably oriented…”).
With regards to claim 7, Iwabori discloses a density of 0.03 to 0.09 g/cm3 when a load of 500 Pa is applied (i.e., Iwabori discloses the claimed load, and the density of Iwabori is entirely within the claimed range of 0.01 to 0.40 g/cm3) (Iwabori: page 2, “The carbon fiber sheet preferably has a density…”).
With regards to claim 8, Iwabori discloses a fiber length of 50 to 80 mm (i.e., which is squarely within the claimed range of 1 to 300 mm) (Iwabori: page 2, “Although the fiber length of carbon fiber…”).
With regards to claim 9, Iwabori discloses a carbon fiber sheet having dimensions of 270 mm x 900 mm (i.e., regardless of direction of carbon fiber orientation, the dimensions disclosed in Iwabori meet the claimed lengths) (Iwabori: page 3, Example 9).
With regards to claim 10, Iwabori discloses the selection of recycled carbon fibers (Iwabori: page 3, Example 9).
Conclusion
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/E.W./
Examiner, Art Unit 1783
/MARIA V EWALD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1783