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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qu (CN101288925A).
Regarding Claims 1 and 3, Qu teaches a welding wire (Claim 1) comprising:
Element
Claimed Range (wt%)
Prior Art Range (wt%)
C
0.03-0.08
0.03-0.12
Si
0.5-1.0
0.3-0.8
Mn
1.4-1.8
1.2-2.2
S
0.013-0.1
0-0.15
P
0-0.0015
0-0.02
Ni
0-0.8
0.4-1.0
Cr
0-0.4
0.1-0.5
Mo
0-0.4
0.2-0.6
Fe
Balance
Balance
TL-TS
25-45 C
14-51 C (Calculated)
In the case where a claimed range lies inside or overlaps with a claimed range, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. (See MPEP 2144.05(I))
The welding wire of the prior art is considered to read on a welding wire for gas shieled arc welding as required by claim 3.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4-10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of record is Qu as used above, however the prior art does not teach or suggest each and every limitation of the claim 4 method limitations or the Ar3-Bs limitations of claim 2.
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/RICARDO D MORALES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1738
