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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1 and 2 are currently pending.
Claim 2 is withdrawn from consideration.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi et al. (US 2020/0362431 A1).
Regarding claim 1,
Takahashi teaches a grain-oriented electrical sheet comprising: a base material steel sheet having a plurality of grooves on a surface of the steel sheet and a glass coating on the surface of the base material steel sheet, in which grain oriented electrical steel sheet, has an angle θ formed by a direction perpendicular to a rolling direction and a sheet thickness direction of the base material steel sheet and a longitudinal direction of the grooves is 0 to 40°, a width W of the grooves is 20 to 300 µm, a depth D of the grooves is 10 to 40 µm, and a pitch P of the grooves in the rolling direction is 2.0 to 30.0 mm, which are all within the claimed ranges (Takahashi: abstract; par. 0019). The thickness of the glass coating is described to have a thickness difference throughout the channel of the peaks and valleys from the steel sheet which would include the flat part, side part, and the recess parts of said channels and have a thickness difference of 0.1 µm to 5 µm which means they may have a point in each of the 3 parts in which the thickness are the same which would meet the claimed formula (1) as the average of t2 and t3 may be equal to t1 (Takahashi: par. 0019).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 09/10/2026 have been fully considered but they are not found persuasive.
Applicant argues that Takahashi focuses on the deepest part of the grooves, the interface mixed region, and does not focus on the thickness of the glass coating on the groove recessed surfaces as required by formula (1) and points to claim 1 of Takahashi. Applicant argues that Takahashi only defines thickness of the region inside the groove and not the t1, t2, or t3 thicknesses of the glass coating required by the claim.
The argument is not found persuasive as formula (1) generally requires the relationship of t1 = a thickness of the glass coating at flat parts of the surface of the base material steel sheet, t2 = a glass coating thickness of deepest parts of the grooves in the recessed parts of the grooves, and t3 = thickness of side parts of the grooves. To further explain the Examiner’s position, the “intermixed region” argued by applicant does indeed have grooves at the deepest part, however, these grooves would all have a glass coating thickness at flat parts (t1) (such as the top of the grooves), thickness at the deepest parts (t2) (the bottom of the grooves, and side parts (t3) (such as the side walls of said grooves all having a thickness in the range of from 0.1 to 5 µm in that region. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the thickness would vary within the range for the various grooves throughout the deepest part and would thus exhibit an embodiment in which the side part and deepest part would be equal such as 1 µm = (A – B) and thus a having a t2+23/2 of 1 µm which is clearly the same or larger than a thickness from a flat part, such as the top which is clearly less or the same at various points in Figures 2 and 3 of Takahashi in which A-B is explained to be the difference comparing a shallowest part and a deepest part.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Travis M Figg whose telephone number is (571)272-9849. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Maria Veronica D. Ewald can be reached at 571-272-8519. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TRAVIS M FIGG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783
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