Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 21, 2026
Application No. 18/685,455

ELECTROLYTIC SOLUTION FOR ZINC BATTERY AND ZINC BATTERY

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Feb 21, 2024
Priority
Aug 27, 2021 — JP 2021-138859 +1 more
Examiner
GODO, OLATUNJI A
Art Unit
1752
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
Energywith Company Limited
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allowance Rate
986 granted / 1148 resolved
+20.9% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+9.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 3m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
1186
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.5%
-39.5% vs TC avg
§103
46.1%
+6.1% vs TC avg
§102
33.2%
-6.8% vs TC avg
§112
16.1%
-23.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1148 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 § 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. 1. Claims 1-3 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kano et al. (JP2003297375). 2. Regarding claims 1-3 and 11, Kano teaches an electrolytic solution for a zinc battery (an alkaline zinc secondary battery, abstract); comprising an alkali metal hydroxide and a surfactant, wherein a content of the surfactant is 0.01% by mass or more with respect to a total mass of the electrolytic solution for a zinc battery (A 10 wt% potassium hydroxide aqueous solution was used as an alkaline electrolyte, and n-dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride as a cationic organic substance was added to 0.1%, page 8 [Sample 10]; According to instant specification: Examples of the cationic surfactant include…a monoalkyltrimethylammonium salt (US20240356081) [0034]…Specific examples of the monoalkyltrimethylammonium salt include…dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride [0038]). 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 of this title, 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. 3. Claims 4-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kano et al. (JP2003297375) as applied to claim 1 in view of Amos et al. (US 20210175580, PCT filed 4/16/2019). 4. Regarding claims 4-10, the complete discussion of Kano as applied to claim 1 is incorporated herein. However, they are silent about the limitations of claims 4-10. 5. The liquid electrolyte can, for example, comprise a KOH electrolyte [0134], and the liquid electrolyte comprises a solvent…for example, comprise monoglyme, diglyme, tetraglyme [0135] for the benefit of electrochemical devices described herein can exhibit improved power density [0154]. 6. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kano with Amos for the benefit of electrochemical devices described herein can exhibit improved power density. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLATUNJI GODO whose telephone number is (571)272-3104. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am - 5:30 pm. 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, Nicholas Smith can be reached on 571-272-8760. 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. /OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 21, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 29, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
86%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+9.0%)
2y 3m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1148 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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