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, 5, 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by JP S63-128071.
This reference teaches, in the examples, a molded bonded magnet comprising 100 parts by weight of strontium ferrite particles and 100 or 95 parts by weight of Nylon MDX6, which consists of meta-xylylene diamine structural units and adipic acid structure units, and thus meets the requirements of claim 5. The taught amounts correspond with compositions of 50 parts by mass of strontium ferrite and 50 parts by mass of Nylon MDX6 or about 51.3 parts by mass of strontium ferrite and about 48.7 parts by mass of Nylon MDX6. These taught molded articles anticipated the claimed composition and articles.
Claims 1, 5, 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by JP S63-128072.
This reference teaches, in the examples, a molded bonded magnet comprising 350, 500, or 810 parts by weight of barium ferrite particles and 100 parts by weight of Nylon MDX6 or comprising 810 parts by weight of barium ferrite particles and 95 parts by weight of Nylon MDX6. Nylon MDX6 consists of meta-xylylene diamine structural units and adipic acid structure units, and thus meets the requirements of claim 5. The taught amounts correspond with compositions of about 77.8, about 83.3 or about 88 parts by mass of barium ferrite and about 22.2, about 16.7 or about 11 parts by mass of Nylon MDX6 or about 89.5 parts by mass of barium ferrite and about 10.5 parts by mass of Nylon MDX6. These taught molded articles anticipated the claimed composition and articles.
Claims 1, 5, 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by JP S53-74559.
This reference teaches, in the examples, a molded bonded magnet comprising 300, 350 or 400 parts by weight of barium ferrite particles and 100 parts by weight of Nylon MDX6, which consists of meta-xylylene diamine structural units and adipic acid structure units, and thus meets the requirements of claim 5. The taught amounts correspond with compositions of 75, about 78 or 80 parts by mass of barium ferrite and 25, about 22 or 20 parts by mass of Nylon MDX6. These taught molded articles anticipated the claimed composition and articles.
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.
Claims 1, 5 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CA 2778645.
This reference teaches a moldable magnetic composition and molded articles made of the taught composition, wherein the composition comprises 0.001-20 wt% (or parts by mass) powder iron, which is a magnetic material, and 10-99.999 wt% (or parts by mass) of a polyamide, such as MXD6 (pg, 2, lines 34-35 and pg. 4, line 7). The taught amounts overlaps the claimed ranges. Product claims with numerical ranges which overlap prior art ranges were held to have been obvious under 35 USC 103. In re Wertheim 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Malagari 182 USPQ 549 (CCPA 1974); In re Fields 134 USPQ 242 (CCPA 1962); In re Nehrenberg 126 USPQ 383 (CCPA 1960). Also see MPEP 2144.05. Thus the reference suggests the claimed resin composition and molded article.
Claims 1, 5, 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. patent application publication 2003/00344756.
This reference teaches polyamide plastic magnet material and molded articles produced therefrom. The material comprises magnetic particles, such as ferrite magnets or a rare earth magnet (para 22), and a polyamide resin, such as nylon MDX6 (para 24). Nylon MDX6 consists of meta-xylylene diamine structural units and adipic acid structure units, and thus meets the requirements of claim 5. The examples teaches compositions of 89-89.5 wt%, or parts by mass, strontium or barium ferrite particles and 11-10.5 wt%, or parts by mass, of the polyamide resin, Nylon 12. Given this teaching, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to apply these amounts to any of the compositions disclosed in the reference and molded articles thereof, such as a composition of 89-89.5 parts by mass of magnetic particles, such as any of the ferrite magnets or a rare earth magnet taught in paragraph [0022] and11-10.5 parts by mass of Nylon MDX6. This suggested composition makes obvious the claimed resin composition and the claimed molded article.
Claims 1-5, 7, 9, 11, 14 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP S63-128071.
This reference teaches a bonded magnetic composition and molded articles thereof comprising 400-1150 parts by weight of strontium ferrite particles and 100 parts by weight of polyamide resin, wherein the resin consists of xylylene diamine structural units and α, ω-linear aliphatic dicarboxylic acid structure units, wherein the acid has 6-12 carbon atoms, such as adipic acid or dodecanedioic acid. This taught polyamide teaches that of claims 1 and 3. The reference teaches the xylylene diamine structural units are either meta-xylylene diamine structural units or xylylene diamine structural units that contains both meta-xylylene diamine and para-xylylene diamine. Thus the reference teaches polyamide resin, wherein the resin consists of meta-xylylene diamine structural units and α, ω-linear aliphatic dicarboxylic acid structure units, wherein the acid has 6-12 carbon atoms, such as the taught Nylon MDX6; and polyamide resins wherein the resin consists of meta-xylylene diamine and para-xylylene diamine structural units and α, ω-linear aliphatic dicarboxylic acid structure units, wherein the acid has 6-12 carbon atoms. The reference teaches that when the xylylene diamine structural units that contains both meta-xylylene diamine and para-xylylene diamine, the amount of para-xylylene diamine is 40 mol% or less. This range overlaps that of claims 2 and 4 and thus suggests the resins of these claims. Product claims with numerical ranges which overlap prior art ranges were held to have been obvious under 35 USC 103. In re Wertheim 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Malagari 182 USPQ 549 (CCPA 1974); In re Fields 134 USPQ 242 (CCPA 1962); In re Nehrenberg 126 USPQ 383 (CCPA 1960). Also see MPEP 2144.05. The taught amounts of strontium ferrite and polyamide correspond with compositions of about 80-98 parts by mass of strontium ferrite and 8-20 parts by mass of the polyamide resin, which overlaps the claimed amounts. Thus the reference suggests the claimed resin composition and molded article.
Claims 1-5, 7, 9, 11, 14 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP S63-128072.
This reference teaches (as shown in both the supplied translation and the discussion of this reference in the provided Written Opinion of the ISA) a bonded magnetic composition and molded articles thereof comprising 350-1150 parts by weight of barium ferrite particles and 100 parts by weight of polyamide resin, wherein the resin consists of xylylene diamine structural units and α, ω-linear aliphatic dicarboxylic acid structure units, wherein the acid has 6-12 carbon atoms, such as adipic acid or dodecanedioic acid. This taught polyamide teaches that of claims 1 and 3. The reference teaches the xylylene diamine structural units are either meta-xylylene diamine structural units or xylylene diamine structural units that contains both meta-xylylene diamine and para-xylylene diamine. Thus the reference teaches polyamide resin, wherein the resin consists of meta-xylylene diamine structural units and α, ω-linear aliphatic dicarboxylic acid structure units, wherein the acid has 6-12 carbon atoms, such as the taught Nylon MDX6; and polyamide resins wherein the resin consists of meta-xylylene diamine and para-xylylene diamine structural units and α, ω-linear aliphatic dicarboxylic acid structure units, wherein the acid has 6-12 carbon atoms. The reference teaches that when the xylylene diamine structural units that contains both meta-xylylene diamine and para-xylylene diamine, the amount of para-xylylene diamine is 40 mol% or less. This range overlaps that of claims 2 and 4 and thus suggests the resins of these claims. Product claims with numerical ranges which overlap prior art ranges were held to have been obvious under 35 USC 103. In re Wertheim 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Malagari 182 USPQ 549 (CCPA 1974); In re Fields 134 USPQ 242 (CCPA 1962); In re Nehrenberg 126 USPQ 383 (CCPA 1960). Also see MPEP 2144.05. The taught amounts of barium ferrite and polyamide correspond with compositions of about 78-98 parts by mass of strontium ferrite and 2-22 parts by mass of the polyamide resin, which overlaps the claimed amounts. Thus the reference suggests the claimed resin composition and molded article.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18 and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
There is no teaching or suggestion in the cited art of record of selecting a polyamide resin having the composition of claims 1-5 wherein the resin has a melt viscosity of 10-600 Pas as measured at 260oC and 121.6 sec-1. The supplied Outline of Nylon-MXD6 shows that the melt viscosity can have a large range of values. There is no teaching or suggestion in the references, nor in the art, to select polyamide resins that have melt viscosity value ranges which at least overlap the claimed range.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to C. MELISSA KOSLOW whose telephone number is (571)272-1371. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Tues:7:45-3:45 EST;Thurs-Fri:6:30-2:00EST; and Wed:7:45-2:00EST.
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/C Melissa Koslow/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
cmk
7/2/26
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