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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-3 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “excellent formability” in claims 1-3 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “excellent formability” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is unclear what degrees of formability would be and would not be considered “excellent formability,” which renders the metes and bounds of the claims indefinite.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 1 and 3, the prior art fails to disclose the hot-rolled ferritic steel sheet and method of manufacturing the hot-rolled ferritic stainless steel sheet as recited. In particular, the closest prior art, Bi et al. (CN 101768702), hereinafter “Bi,” wherein an English machine translation is used and cited herein, teaches a hot-rolled ferritic stainless steel having a chemical composition comprising, by weight, C≤0.015%, Cr: 16.0-18.0, Ti: 0.20-0.30%, Nb: 0.20-0.40%, Ni≤0.3%, Mn: 0.20-0.70%, Cu≤0.2%, Si: 0.20-0.50%, N≤0.015%, Al≤0.06%, and a balance of Fe and inevitable impurities (Abstract, [0025], [0030], [0047]), which overlaps with the instantly claimed chemical composition, with the exception of Cr. Bi further teaches an R-value ≥1.35 ([0051]) and wherein the examples have TS/YS ranging from 1.71-1.99 (Table 4). However, Bi teaches wherein the steel sheet has a Cr content of 16.0-18.0%, which is outside of the range of 10.0-14.0% required by claims 1 and 3. Furthermore, Bi fails to disclose or fairly suggest wherein the steel sheet has an R-bar value of 1.08 or more, as required by claims 1 and 3. Thus, claims 1 and 3 are distinct over the teachings of the prior art. Claim 2 further limits the subject matter of claim 1 and is thus also distinct over the teachings of the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY M LIANG whose telephone number is (571)272-0483. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00am-5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Johnson can be reached at (571)272-1177. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY M LIANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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