CTNF 19/058,021 CTNF 89522 DETAILED ACTION The following Office action concerns Patent Application Number 19/058,021. Claims 1-3 are pending in the application. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Ikehata (JP 2019-145254, included in the applicant’s IDS) in view of Hamada (US 2022/0302465) . Ikehata teaches a method of making a catalyst ink for a fuel cell comprising mixing catalyst, electrolyte and solvent (par. 22). The electrolyte includes ionomer (par. 15). The solvent includes alcohol and water (par. 13). The weight ratio of alcohol to water is 1:10 to 10:1, which equates to 0.1 to 10 (par. 37). The method further comprises defoaming to remove bubbles (par 52). Ikehata does not teach kneading the ink in a bead mill. However, Hamada teaches a method of making a catalyst ink for fuel cell wherein the ink is mixed in a bead mill (par. 31). Mixing the ink in a bead mill in equivalent to kneading in a bead mill as that term is used in the instant specification. Ikehata teaches mixing but does not disclose a device for performing mixing. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the bead mill mixing of Hamada with the method of Ikehata in order to obtain a known suitable method of mixing a catalyst ink for a fuel cell. Examiner’s Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to William Young whose telephone number is (571) 270-5078. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew, can be reached at 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000./WILLIAM D YOUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761 June 16, 2026 Application/Control Number: 19/058,021 Page 2 Art Unit: 1761 Application/Control Number: 19/058,021 Page 3 Art Unit: 1761
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