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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/11/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The Applicant argues, “Yasuharu Kanda, Yoshio Uemichi, Nozomi Ishihara, and Takehiro Nakasuji are named inventors on the present application. Yoshio Uemichi, Yasuharu Kanda, and Yuki Okamoto are named inventors on Uemichi. As stated in the Declaration under 37 C.F.R. § 1.130 submitted herewith, to the extent that Uemichi discloses the subject matter cited in the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Uemichi discloses the work of Yoshio Uemichi and/or Yasuharu Kanda, but not that of Yuki Okamoto. Thus, the subject matter cited in Uemichi was "made by the inventor or joint inventor" of the present application and was disclosed "1 year or less before the effective filing date" of the present application. Applicant submits herewith the Declaration of Yasuharu Kanda under 37 C.F.R. §1.130 in support of this position. See Declaration, 11 2-4. Accordingly, Uemichi is disqualified as prior art against the present application under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)(1)(A)”.
The Applicant’s argument is not persuasive. Applicant’s affidavit filed: 04/11/2026 states that the disclosure relied upon in Uemichi was the work of Kanda and Uemichi, who are listed as inventors on the current application, and not the work of Okamoto, who is not listed as an inventor on the current application. However, the affidavit does not contain a "reasonable explanation of the presence of additional authors" (Okamoto) on the Uemichi reference (emphasis added). See MPEP 2155.01 for details.
Thus, the rejection of Claim(s) 1-13 as being unpatentable over Uemichi et al (WO 2021166854 A1) and Ramamurthy et al (WO 2018/069794 A1) is maintained.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/PREM C SINGH/
Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1771
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