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
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.
Claim(s) 20-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Millevik (US 2012/0071029) in view of Sizemore (US 2017/0071063).
The teaching as discussed above does not disclose wherein the apertures are perforations (re claim 20), wherein the conductor is manufactured by perforating metal using a perforating roller to form the apertures (re claim 21), wherein the perforating roller has a rolling direction, and wherein the rolling direction corresponds to a transverse direction of the conductor when arranged in the sealing module (re claim 22).
The limitations of “the conductor is manufactured by perforating metal using a perforating roller to form the apertures” and “wherein the perforating roller has a rolling direction, and wherein the rolling direction corresponds to a transverse direction of the conductor when arranged in the sealing module” have been considered, but does not result in a structural difference. The presence of process limitations in product claims, which product does not otherwise patentably distinguish over prior art, cannot impart patentability to that product. In re Stephens 145 USPQ 656 (CCPA 1965).
Sizemore teaches the use of apertures are perforations (punching the apertures) [0122]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to make the aperture of Millevik by perforating a blank material for forming a rigid structure.
Claim(s) 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Millevik (US 2012/0071029) in view of Sizemore (US 2017/0071063) as applied to claim 20 above, and further in view of Shimizu (US 2005/0044915).
The teaching as discussed above does not disclose wherein the apertures of the conductor are formed by a perforating roller operating in a rolling direction, and the conductor is arranged in the sealing module such that the rolling direction corresponds to a transverse direction of the conductor.
Shimizu et al teach the apertures of the conductor are formed by a perforating roller operating in a rolling direction, and the conductor is arranged in the sealing module such that the rolling direction corresponds to a transverse direction of the conductor (Fig 8). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use the perforating roller to form apertures of the conductor of the modified Millevik for simplifying manufacturing process.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8, 10-12, 15-17 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 20 have been considered but are moot.
Communication
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/HUNG V NGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841