DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, Claims 1-7 and 20, in the reply filed on December 30, 2025 is acknowledged. Claims 8-19 are withdrawn as directed to non-elected subject matter.
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 1-7 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito et al. (JP2021008670A, references herein made to the English translation obtained from EPO espacenet March 5th, 2026 and reformatted for readability).
Regarding applicants’ claim 1, Ito et al. disclose a composite plating comprising carbon particles in a silver layer (page 3 lines 19-22), the composite layer having an Ra of 0.3µm or more and a thickness of 0.5 to 20µm (page 4 lines 9-12). Ito et al. do not disclose ratios of Ra to thickness however the values disclosed for Ra and thickness result in ratios overlapping applicants’ claimed range. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicants’ claimed invention would have found it obvious to form the composite layers having an Ra value and thickness value within those disclosed by Ito et al., including values which result in ratios within applicants’ claimed range.
Ito et al. further disclose the ratio of the carbon particles on the surface of the composite plating film to be approximately 40-80 % by area (page 7 lines 13-23).
Ito et al. do not appear to explicitly disclose the crystallite size of the silver in the composite coating, however materials formed by substantially identical processes are expected to have substantially identical structures. Applicants disclose forming the composite layer from a silver plating bath comprising a most preferred silver ion concentration of 20 to 100 g/L and containing carbon particles of 0.5 to 20µm in size, the plating formed at a preferred current density of 1 to 8 A/dm2 with agitation and deposited to a thickness of 0.5 to 15µm on substrates such as copper (present specification, 0041, 0047, 0070-0071, 0076-0077, and 0086)
Ito et al. disclose a bath containing 20-100 g/L silver ions containing carbon particles of 1 to 15µm, where the plating is formed from an agitated plating bath at a preferred current density of 2 to 15 A/dm2 to a thickness of 0.5 to 20µm on a copper substrate (page 3 lines 29-30, page 4 lines 10-12 and 26-27, page 6 lines 13-24).
Given the that the plating of Ito et al. is formed from a plating bath by substantially identical parameters as those disclosed by applicants, the plating of Ito et al. would be expected to have a structure substantially identical to applicants’ claimed plating, including having a silver crystallite size within, or at least overlapping, applicants’ claimed range.
Regarding applicants’ claim 2, Ito et al. disclose forming the composite on a material which is preferably copper (page 4 lines 26-27).
Regarding applicants’ claim 3, Ito et al. disclose in an embodiment that the Vickers hardness may be 180HV (page 8 line 6).
Regarding applicants’ claim 4, Ito et al. disclose the thickness of the composite plating film is preferably 0.5 to 20μm (page 4 lines 10-11).
Regarding applicants’ claim 5, Ito et al. disclose the arithmetic average roughness Ra of the surface of the composite plating film is 0.3μm or more (page 4 lines 9-10), which overlaps applicants’ claimed range. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicants’ claimed invention would have found it obvious to form platings having an Ra value within the disclosed range, including values that fall within applicants’ claimed range.
Regarding applicants’ claim 6, as discussed above with respect to claim 1, given the that the plating of Ito et al. is formed from a plating bath by substantially identical parameters as those disclosed by applicants, the plating of Ito et al. would be expected to have a structure substantially identical to applicants’ claimed plating, including have a silver crystallite size within, or at least overlapping, applicants’ claimed range.
Regarding applicants’ claim 7, Ito et al. disclose that a nickel plating film may be formed on the material before the composite material is formed (page 3 lines 31-32).
Regarding applicants’ claim 20, Ito et al. disclose the plated copper material in the context of sliding contact parts such as switches and connectors (page 1 lines 18-21). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicants’ claimed invention would have found it obvious to form electrical contacts from the disclosed silver-plated material where Ito et al. disclose the material to be for forming sliding electrical parts such as switches and connectors.
Conclusion
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/Adam Krupicka/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1784