DETAILED ACTION
The following Office action concerns Patent Application Number 19/085,654. Claims 1, 23, 46-61 are pending in the application. Claims 1, 23 and 56-59 are withdrawn from consideration as being drawn to non-elected inventions or species.
The applicant’s amendment filed August 4, 2026 has been entered.
Election/Restrictions
A restriction requirement was sent to the Applicant on June 16, 2026. The Applicant was required to elect among several groups of inventions. The Applicant responded to the restriction requirement on August 4, 2026 and elected Group II, claims 46-61, with traverse. The applicant also elected a species of polymer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and a species of electrolyte as listed in claim 60. In traversing the restriction requirement, the Applicant argues that search and examination of the entire application could be conducted without serious burden. However, examination of subject matter in different statutory categories, such as those claimed in the instant application, and including multiple species, requires additional search and consideration for each limitation of the additional claims or each additional species. Such additional search and consideration constitutes a serious burden for the examiner.
Accordingly, claims 1, 23 and 56-59 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to non-elected inventions or species.
Claim Objections
Claim 53 is objected to because it contains two sentences. There is a period after the term “containing two oxygen elements." A claim must contain only one sentence. Correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. § 112 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
(b) CONCLUSION.-The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 53-55 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) because the term “R3 preferably represents hydrogen. . .” is indefinite. It is unclear if the term “preferably” indicates a required element.
Claims 53-55 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) because the term “n” in formula A is not defined. It is unclear what is required by “n.”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC §§ 102 and 103
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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.
Claims 46-55, 60, 61 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by, or, alternatively, under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being obvious over Andoralov et al (US 2021/0065994).
Andoralov et al teaches a hybrid capacitor (par. 20) comprising a sealed housing (par. 28, 32), an anode with a dielectric thereon (par. 10), a conductive polymer layer on the dielectric, a separator and a liquid electrolyte (par. 22, Fig. 2). The conductive polymer includes poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene), which contains sulfur (par. 36). The amount of sulfur in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) is about 22.8 % by weight. The sulfur is present throughout the polymer layer including the surface. The anode includes aluminum metal (par. 33). Aluminum is the claimed valve metal. The liquid electrolyte comprises γ-butyrolactone solvent and inorganic acid ammonium salts (par. 37).
In the event that the above disclosure is not sufficiently specific to anticipate the above listed claims, the examiner submits that the selection of the instantly claimed components and resultant properties would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art since Andoralov et al teaches a hybrid capacitor containing each of the claimed components.
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 September 2, 2026
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