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 § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 and 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP-5332546 (“JP’546”)
Claims 1-4: JP’546 teaches a flame-retardant insulating sheet comprising a polycarbonate resin and a flame retardant, wherein the flame retardant comprises a nitrogen-containing compound (JP’546, translation copy, pages 3-4, items (1) and (8) . With regards to the properties of the sheet, i.e. the peak curvature (“Spc”), the peak density (“Spd”) and the glossiness, JP’546 does not report these properties. However, they are deemed inherent because as shown in the instant specification at Table 1 (page 33), when the polycarbonate resin is flame retardant is about 6 parts by mass, the results of Spc, Spd and glossiness fall within the claimed range. Here, JP’546 teaches that the flame retardant is present from 2 to 10 parts by weight with respect to 100 pbw of the resin (translation copy, page 3, item (1)). In addition, the flame-retardant insulating sheet of JP’546 comprises the same kind of resin material (i.e. polycarbonate resin having a weight-average molecular weight from 15,000-35,000), the same specific retardant material (i.e. melamine cyanurate) having the same particle size and present in the same concentration (see claims 7-11 below). Therefore, it is expected that the Spc, Spd and glossiness of the insulating sheet as claimed are met by JP’546.
Claim 5: JP546 teaches coloring agent (i.e. pigment) be present in the insulating sheet (translation copy, page 6, 1st paragraph).
Claim 7: JP’546 teaches the weight-average molecular weight of the polycarbonate resin is 15,000 to 30,000 (translation copy, page 6, 5th paragraph, which is well within the claimed range of 15,000 to 35,000.
Claim 8: JP’546 teaches the flame retardant is melamine cyanurate (translation copy, page 3, item (5).
Claim 9: JP’546 teaches the average of the flame retardant is 0.01 to 30 mm, in particular, 1 to 10 mm (translation copy, page 5, last paragraph), which meets the claimed range of 1 to 30 µm.
Claim 10: JP’546 teaches a flame-retardant insulating sheet, in which a proportion of a content of the flame retardant to a content of the polycarbonate resin is 2% to 10% by mass (translation copy, page 3, item (1)).
Claim 11: JP’546 teaches an electric/electronic device using the flame-retardant insulating sheet of claim 1 (translation copy, page 4, item (9)).
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 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP’546 as applied to claims 1-5 and 7-11 above, and further in view of Maas (US-2015/0361260).
JP’546 teaches the claimed insulating sheet as discussed above. JP’546 teaches coloring agent in the insulating sheet (translation copy, page 6, 1st paragraph). However, JP’546 does not specify carbon black as the coloring agent. Maas teaches carbon black is a known pigment in composition comprising polycarbonate resin (Maas, para. 0080). Therefore, it would have been obvious as matter of choice to select carbon black as the coloring agent for the polycarbonate insulating sheet of JP’546.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOA (Holly) LE whose telephone number is (571)272-1511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alicia Chevalier can be reached at 571-272-1490. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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HOA (Holly) LE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1788
/HOA (Holly) LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788
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