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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, corresponding to Claims 1-12, in the reply filed on December 22, 2025 is acknowledged.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on December 22, 2025 has been entered. Claim 3 has been amended. Claims 13-27, which would have been withdrawn from consideration as being non-elected, have been cancelled. New Claims 28-35 have been added. As such, Claims 1-12 and 28-35 are currently pending in the application.
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 8 and 33 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.
Claim 8 recites the limitation “said initiator” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 7 serves as an initial recitation for an initiator; however, Claim 8 is dependent upon Claim 1. Should Claim 8 be amended to be dependent upon Claim 7 instead? Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 33 recites “[t]he nonwoven fabric of claim 30” in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 30 is directed to an aqueous CMC binder, and is not directed to a nonwoven fabric. The recitation of Claim 30 that the binder is applicable to a nonwoven fabric does not serve as a positive recitation of a nonwoven fabric being present. Rather, Claim 30 only requires that if a hypothetical nonwoven fabric were available, then the binder would be capable of being applied to the nonwoven fabric.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 32-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Claims 32 and 33 directed to the hypothetical properties of a nonwoven fabric following an application of the binder of Claim 1. Claims 34 and 35 recite structural details of a nonwoven fabric. However, none of Claims 32-35 are directed to a nonwoven fabric being a claimed feature. Rather, Claim 30, from which Claims 32-35 depend, only requires that if a hypothetical nonwoven fabric were available, then the binder would be capable of being applied to the nonwoven fabric. A nonwoven fabric is not positively recited. As such, Claims 32-35 fail to further limit the aqueous CMC binder that they are directed to, and only define subject matter to a hypothetical material. Moreover, it is submitted that Claims 22-25, which were original claims that were actually directed to a nonwoven fabric embodiment, were non-elected in the Response filed December 22, 2025.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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, 3-6, 8, 11, and 28-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chinese Patent Application Publication No. 105504169 to Wei (an English translation obtained from the Google Patents website is referenced herein) (“Wei”).
With regard to Claims 1, 3, 28, and 29, Wei discloses an adhesive for a lithium ion battery comprising sodium carboxymethyl cellulose polymer that is covalently grafted with sodium polyacrylate. See, e.g., Abstract, entire document. Wei discloses that the polymer composition is formed by dissolving 1.0 g of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose in 50 g of water to provide an aqueous solution, followed by the addition of acrylic acid monomer to graft the acrylic acid monomer onto the CMC, wherein the reaction takes place at a temperature of 55 degrees C. for 2 hours. Page 4, Example 1. Wei discloses that the ratio of monomer to CMC can be as low as 1:4. Page 4, Example 2. With regard to Claims 4, 30, and 31, the aqueous solution formed by the initial reaction of Example 2 of Wei is in liquid form and therefore capable of being sprayed, in general, or sprayed onto a nonwoven fabric. With regard to Claims 5 and 6, the dissolving 1.0 g of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose in 50 g of water to provide an aqueous solution, followed by the addition of acrylic acid monomer such that that the weight ratio of monomer to CMC is 1:4 as recited in Example 2 anticipates the ranged amounts of CMC being 0.1 to 70% by weight and monomer being 0.1 to 90% by weight. With regard to Claim 8, Wei discloses that a suitable initiator is potassium persulfate. Page 3. With regard to Claim 11, both CMC and polyacrylic acid are considered to be biodegradable materials. With regard to Claims 32-35, parent Claim 30 only requires that if a hypothetical nonwoven fabric were available, then the binder would be capable of being applied to the nonwoven fabric. Claim 30 does not positively recite or require a nonwoven fabric. As such, Claims 32-35 fail to further limit the aqueous CMC binder that they are directed to, and only define subject matter to a hypothetical material.
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 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei.
With regard to Claim 7, Wei discloses that the initiator is present in amount of 0.01:1 to 0.5:1 of the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. Page 3. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to provide initiator in the composition disclosed by Wei in an amount of 0.1 to 10% by weight because “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456 (CCPA 1955). Moreover, in the case where the claimed ranges overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. M.P.E.P. 2144.05.
Claims 2, 9, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0105949 to Oe et al. (“Oe”).
With regard to Claims 2, 9, and 10, Wei does not disclose using n-hydroxymethyl acrylamide monomer. Oe is also related to binder compositions useful in lithium-ion battery applications. See, e.g., Abstract, entire document. Oe teaches that n-hydroxymethyl acrylamide monomer is suitable as an addition monomer in the polymers used to form a binder composition. Paragraph [0019]. Oe teaches that acrylamide monomer provides a composition with improved toughness. Paragraph [0031]. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to utilize n-hydroxymethyl acrylamide monomer in the binder composition disclosed by Wei in order to improve toughness of the composition, as shown to be known by Oe. With regard to Claims 9 and 10, Wei teaches that the reaction takes place at a temperature of 55 degrees C. for a period of time of 2 hours. Page 4, Example 1.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei in view of Oe, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0098452 to Hampson et al. (“Hampson”).
With regard to Claim 12, the combination of Wei with Oe does not disclose using polymer N-hydroxymethyl acrylamide which is not chemically bonded with the CMC. Hampson is also related to binder compositions that include sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. See, e.g., Abstract, entire document. Hampson teaches that a binder formulation can include polymerized acrylamide materials that are not chemically bound to the CMC, such as in a particulate form. Paragraphs [0025] and [0036]. Hampson teaches that inclusion of such particulate material can improve bonding strength. Paragraph [0040]. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to provide polymer N-hydroxymethyl acrylamide which is not chemically bonded with the CMC in the binder composition disclosed by Wei in view of Oe in order to provide improved bonding strength, as shown to be known in the art by Hampson.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0138078 to Isshiki, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0054548 to Salam et al., and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0202956 to Zhang.
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JEREMY R. PIERCE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1789
/JEREMY R PIERCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789