NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION
Acknowledgements
1. This non-final Office Action addresses broadening reissue U.S. Application No. 18/633,174 (“instant application”). Examiners find the actual filing date of the instant application is April 18, 2024.
2. The instant application is a broadening reissue application of U.S. Patent No. 11,302,982, (“‘982 Patent”) issued Apr. 12, 2022. The ‘982 Patent was filed on Nov. 30, 2018 as U.S. Application No. 16/618,993 (“993 Application”), titled “BATTERY PACK AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME.”
3. The instant application is a continuation of broadening reissue U.S. Application No. 18/631,991 filed April 16, 2024.
4. Examiners do not find any certificates of correction, ongoing/previous proceedings before the Office, or current ongoing litigation involving the ‘982 Patent.
5. The ‘982 Patent issued with claims 1-17 (“Patented Claims”). In the preliminary amendment filed April 10, 2024 ("APRIL 2024 CLAIM AMENDMENTS"), claims 1-17 are cancelled and claims 18-37 are added.
6. Claims 1-20 are pending and examined and are grouped as follows:
claims 1-11 and 18-20; and
claims 12-17.
Priority Claims
7. The ‘993 Application was the national stage entry of PCT/KR2018/015113, which was filed Nov. 30, 2018. Thus, the presumed effective filing date is Dec. 3, 2019.
Specification Objections
8. The first sentence of each reissue specification must provide notice stating that more than one reissue application has been filed, and it must identify each of the reissue applications and their relationship within the family of reissue applications, and to the original patent. The specification is objected to because it does not contain the aforementioned first sentence.
An example of the suggested language to be inserted is as follows:
Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of Patent No. 99,999,999. The reissue applications are application number 99/999,994 (the present application); and application numbers 99/999,995 and 99/999,998, both of which are divisional reissues of Patent No. 99,999,999.
CORRECTION IS REQUIRED.
Double Patenting
9. Claims 18-37 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of copending Application No. 18/633,174 (reference application).
Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they cover the same embodiment of the battery pack (see figures 1). Specifically, both sets of claims cover the same embodiment. See figure 5. This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
PNG
media_image1.png
606
644
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Allowable Subject Matter
10. If the double patenting rejection is overcome, then claims 18-37 would be in condition for allowance.
The closest prior art is US 10,992,008 to Seo et al. filed Apr. 2, 2018, which discloses the following elongated structure for a battery pack. This elongated structure, however, does not disclose or make obvious “the second elongated member includes a recess portion, such that the lateral plate is interlocked with the X bar by having at least a feature of the lateral plate received within the recess portion of the elongated member” in combination with the other limitations of the claims.
PNG
media_image2.png
538
828
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Conclusion
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEANDRA M HUGHES whose telephone number is (571)272-6982. The examiner can normally be reached Generally M-Th 8AM-6PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hetul Patel can be reached at 571-272-4184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Signed:
/DEANDRA M HUGHES/Reexamination Specialist, Art Unit 3992
Conferees:
/CHRISTINA Y. LEUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3991
/Patricia L Engle/SPRS, Art Unit 3991