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 .
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.
Priority
3. This application is a CON of 18/254,795 05/26/2023; 18/254,795 is a 371 of PCT/JP2021/043133 11/25/2021.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application JAPAN 2020-198148 11/30/2020 filed on 06/26/23.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), filed on 03/25/24, 05/23/24, 07/17/24, 09/06/24, 01/21/25, 05/16/25, and 11/12/25 have been considered. Please refer to Applicant's copy of the 1449 submitted herewith.
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 1-2, 4-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sakakibara (WO 2018/173373; for English translation patent family US 2020/0020909 applied).
Regarding claims 1-2, 5-8, Sakakibara discloses an electrolyte/electrode layer for non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, comprising a resin composition (para [0040]-[0046]) containing a vinylidene fluoride copolymer that is a copolymer of
vinylidene fluoride and a co-monomer represented by formula (1) (see claim 1), and indicates that the content of constituent units derived from the co-monomer represented by formula (1) in the vinylidene fluoride copolymer is 0.1-10 mol% relative to a total monomer amount of 100 mol% (see claim 2; para [0030]), wherein the examples section discloses production examples of vinylidene fluoride copolymers and resin compositions (see examples 1 and 2; comparative examples 1 and 2; table 1), such as an example (example 1) in which a resin composition is produced by subjecting 370 g of vinylidene fluoride (VDF), 40 g of hexafluoropropylene (HFP) and 4.1 g of acrylamide to suspension polymerization in ion exchanged water to produce a slurry of a vinylidene fluoride copolymer, then heat treating this slurry for 60 minutes at 95°C, dehydrating, washing with water, drying to obtain a vinylidene fluoride copolymer, and then adding this vinylidene fluoride copolymer and lithium hexafluorophosphate or the like to a mixed solvent of ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate and mixing. Further, the polymer dispersion comprising the vinylidene fluoride copolymer composition and dispersion medium having a relative dielectric constant of 15 or less (dimethyl carbonate (has relative dielectric constant 3.087 to 3.17 at 25°C); Sakakibara example 1; current specification para [0141])
In addition, because the molecular weights of these monomers are 64 for VDF, 150 for HFP and 71 for acrylamide, the content of VDF in the vinylidene fluoride copolymer of example 1 is (370/64)/(370/64 + 40/150 + 4.1/71) = 94.7 mol% (in table 1, this content is erroneously given as 95.4 mol%).
In addition, the melting point of a vinylidene fluoride copolymer depends on the content of VDF in the copolymer, and because the VDF content and melting point of vinylidene fluoride copolymers of emulsions 1-3 in the examples section of the present application are 88.1 mol% and 115°C for emulsion 1, 90.4 mol% and 120°C for emulsion 2, and 95.5 mol% and 141°C for emulsion 3, it is considered that the melting point of the vinylidene fluoride copolymer of example 1, in which the VDF content is 94.7 mol%, is considered to be approximately 138°C, fall into claimed range of 140 °C or lower.
In addition, regarding the claimed properties such as ‘when a reversing heat flow of the vinylidene fluoride copolymer composition is measured with a temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimetry, the vinylidene fluoride copolymer composition has endothermic peaks having an amount of enthalpy of fusion (AHm) of 2J/g or more with two or more peak tops; an absolute value of a difference between a peak top temperature of a largest endothermic peak among the endothermic peaks and the melting point of the vinylidene fluoride copolymer composition is 10°C or lower; and
after a dispersion comprising butyl butyrate and the vinylidene fluoride copolymer composition and having a content rate of the vinylidene fluoride copolymer composition of 10 mass% is stirred at 25°C for 30 minutes and left to stand for 20 hours, a content rate of the vinylidene fluoride copolymer composition in an upper 20 vol% of the dispersion is 7.0 mass% or more and 10 mass% or less,’ the preparation method, e.g. the vinylidene fluoride copolymers of Sakakibara examples 1 and 2 and comparative examples 1 and 2 are obtained by heat treating a slurry, in which untreated vinylidene fluoride copolymer is dispersed in water, for 60 minutes at 95°C, appears to follow the steps of the second method for producing vinylidene fluoride copolymer disclosed at para [0089]-[0101] of the current application and are therefore considered to have characteristics such as same heat flow, endothermic peaks and content rate of vinylidene fluoride copolymer prescribed in the present application (table 2). Therefore, Sakakibara meets the requirements of claims 1-2, 5-8.
Regarding claim 4, Sakakibara discloses Metolose SM-100 (para [0083]; read on surfactant).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakakibara as applied to claims 1, 2 above, and further in view of Fukatani (EP3070764).
Sakakibara includes the features of claims 1-2.
Regarding claim 3, Sakakibara does not disclose the vinylidene fluoride copolymer composition comprises 15 mass% or more and 70 mass% or less of a structural unit derived from the hexafluoropropylene per 100 mass% of structural units of the vinylidene fluoride copolymer.
However, Fukatani discloses a resin composition for forming a resin layer provided on a surface of a separator of a secondary battery, the resin composition containing a vinylidene fluoride copolymer that is a copolymer of vinylidene fluoride and (VDF) and hexafluoropropylene (HFP), wherein the molar ratio of VdF/HFP is 80/20 to 65/35 (para [0097], claim 1) results in HFP 36.9 to 55.8 mass%, fall into claimed range of 15 mass% or more and 70 mass% or less based on 100 mass% of the vinylidene fluoride copolymer, wherein the disclosed molar ratio VdF/HFP is used for improved ion conductivity and improved oxidation resistance (para [0096]).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art at the time of invention, to modify Sakakibara with the molar ratio of VdF/HFP is 80/20 to 65/35, as taught by Fukatani. The rationale to do so would have been motivation provided by of Fukatani that to do so would help improve ion conductivity and oxidation resistance.
Conclusion
References Keisuke (US 2019/348711) and Nagasawa (US 2018/0358626) were cumulative in nature to the above rejection and thus not set forth.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KUMAR R BHUSHAN whose telephone number is (313)446-4807. The examiner can normally be reached 9.00 AM to 5.50 PM (EST).
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/KUMAR R BHUSHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766