DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed November 18, 2024 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. The listed US Patents have been considered, however the non-patent literature documents listed have been struck through and have not been considered because the non-patent document entries in the application file do not contain any text of the documents.
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (PGPub US 2017/0275719).
Regarding applicants’ claim 1, Wang et al. disclose a hot-rolled steel sheet with a yield strength of 800 MPa or more, the steel comprising (in weight percent) at least: 0.02 to 0.05% carbon, generally 1.5 to 2.5% Mn, 0.02 to 0.10% aluminum, 0.01 to 0.03% titanium, 0.03 to 0.06% niobium + titanium, and 0.1 to 0.5% chromium, a balance of iron and unavoidable impurities.
Wang et al. do not appear to disclose the exact ranges claimed, however the values disclosed overlap the claimed values. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicants’ claimed invention would have found it obvious to select values from within those disclosed by Wang et al. including values which fall within the claimed proportions.
With regards to the manganese content, Wang et al. disclose that the lower limit is generally controlled to be 1.5% or higher (paragraph 0015). ‘Generally’ is considered to be similar to ‘about’, that is, it is usually kept at 1.5% or higher but open to values outside the value of 1.5 (i.e. the lower limit is not absolute) and therefore overlaps the claimed upper limit of less than 1.5%. While ‘generally’ 1.5% is considered to overlap applicants’ claimed upper limit of less than 1.5%, it is also so close to applicants’ claimed range that a prima facia case of obviousness is established (MPEP 21144.05)
Regarding applicants claim 2, Wang et al. disclose an impact toughness of 100J or higher at -80ºC (paragraph 0006), which exceeds the specification claimed by applicants. Where the steel of Wang et al. has an impact toughness of 100J or more at -80ºC it would be expected to exhibit an impact toughness of at least 25J at -40ºC as claimed.
Regarding applicants claim 3, Wang et al. disclose thickness values of 3 to 12 mm (paragraph 0041) which falls within the claimed range of less than 20mm.
Regarding applicants claim 4, Wang et al. disclose yield strengths of 800 MPa or more (paragraph 0041), which falls within the claimed range.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM C KRUPICKA whose telephone number is (571)270-7086. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8-5pm EST.
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/Adam Krupicka/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1784
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