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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I (Claims 1 and 2) in the reply filed on 08/31/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)). Claims 3-9 are withdrawn. Claims 1-2 are examined herein.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “the remaindered Fe and other unavoidable impurities” in line 4, which is informal. Please amend the claim to recite “the remainder being iron and other unavoidable impurities”. Please also remove the paratheses from the last two lines of claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
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 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by EP’461 (WO2021/205876, EP4134461 is used as translation).
Regarding claim 1, EP’461 teaches (Abstract; Table 1, Ex2 and Ex4) a ferritic stainless steel having composition that meets the recited composition in claim 1.
Element
Claim 1
(mass %)
EP’461, Ex2
(mass %)
EP’461, Ex4
(mass %)
C
0.01-0.1
0.063
0.039
Si
0.01-1.0
0.49
0.24
Mn
0.01-1.5
0.32
0.34
P
≤0.05
0.028
0.026
S
≤0.005
0.001
0.001
Cr
13-18
16.45
16.25
N
0.005-0.1
0.012
0.024
Al
0.005-0.2
0.063
0.097
Ni
0.05-0.25
0.11
0.09
Fe + Impurities
Balance
Balance
Balance
Based on the composition disclosed in Table 1 of EP’461, the Ac1 for Ex2 and the Ac1 for Ex4 are calculated to be 935.68 and 937.42, respectively, which meet the recited Ac1 range in claim 1.
Since EP’461 meets all the limitations recited in claim 1, claim 1 is anticipated by EP’461.
Regarding claim 2, EP’461 discloses that Ex2 has elongation of 27.5% to 31.1 % and Ex4 has elongation of 27.3% to 32.1% (Table 2), which meets the recited elongation in claim 2.
Conclusion
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/XIAOWEI SU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1733
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