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 without traverse of Group II (claims 16, 17, 19, 20 and 22) in the reply filed on 10/29/2025 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim(s) 16, 17 and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Omura et al. (JP 2002180296 A, machine translation).
Considering claims 16 and 17, Omura discloses a coated metal substrate, wherein the metal substrate is coated with a graphite-containing nickel layer, wherein the graphite-containing layer contains 3%, which is within the claimed range of from 0.1 to 8 wt% graphite relative to the total weight of the graphite-containing layer (page 9, lines 21-27).
Considering claim 31, Omura discloses a battery comprising the coated metal substrate (abstract).
Claim(s) 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schmidt et al. (US 6852445 B1).
Considering claims 16 and 17, Schmidt discloses a coated metal substrate, wherein the metal substrate is coated with a graphite-containing nickel layer, wherein the graphite-containing layer contains 1.8%, which is within the claimed range of from 0.1 to 8 wt% graphite relative to the total weight of the graphite-containing layer (col. 4, lines 30-46).
Claim(s) 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takei et al. (US 20060068220 A1)
Considering claims 16 and 17, Takei discloses a coated metal substrate, wherein the metal substrate is coated with a graphite-containing tin layer, wherein the graphite-containing layer contains 0.1 to 1.0 wt%, which is within the claimed range of from 0.1 to 8 wt% graphite relative to the total weight of the graphite-containing layer [0013].
Considering claim 26, Takei discloses the graphite particles have a median diameter of 3.4 µm [0017].
Considering claim 27, Takei discloses the graphite-containing layer has a layer thickness of 0.5 to 10 µm [0013].
Considering claim 28, Takei discloses the graphite-containing layer is a final layer [0013].
Considering claim 29, Takei discloses the substrate is a metal component [0016].
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) 19, 20, 22 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takei et al. (US 20060068220 A1) in view of Funk et al. (WO 2016131916 A1, machine translation).
Considering claims 19, 20 and 30, Takei discloses tin layer with graphite at 0.1 to 1.0 wt%.
Takei does not disclose a graphite-containing tin-nickel layer and has a nickel content of 10 to 40 wt% relative to the metals tin and nickel.
However, Funk discloses tin-nickel layers with a composition 65 wt% Sn and about 35 wt% Ni show a high corrosion resistance and good hardness of at least HV 750 (page 3, last 3 lines and page 4, 3rd paragraph).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a tin nickel alloy with nickel at 35 wt% in the graphite-containing layer of Takei, because Funk teaches that such alloy shows a high corrosion resistance and good hardness of at least HV 750.
Considering claim 22, Takei discloses contact resistance of 1 mΩ or less [0008].
Takei does not disclose the contact resistance is measured in relation to a gold contact at 25°C.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use gold contact at 25°C, because gold is conventionally used for contact resistance measurement at room temperature.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Wojciech Haske whose telephone number is (571)272-5666. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30 am - 6:00 pm.
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/WOJCIECH HASKE/Examiner, Art Unit 1794