DETAILED ACTION
The following Office action concerns Patent Application Number 19/092,617. Claims 1-9 are pending in the application.
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.
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(d) because the range of hydroxy content is broader than the range in claim 1, from which claim 7 depends.
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 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 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshikawa et al (JP 2012-158695, included in the IDS) in view of Suzuki et al (JP 2011-184663, included in the IDS).
Yoshikawa et al teaches a thermally conductive sheet comprising graphite particles and polymer (overview). The long axis of the graphite particles is oriented in the thickness direction of the sheet (overview). The polymer includes a poly acrylate ester (par. 24). The polymer includes hydroxy groups (par. 27). The polymer has a weight average molecular weight of 100,000 to 1,000,000 (par. 32). The polymer has a glass transition temperature of -70 to 20 °C (par. 24). The sheet is not required to contain sulfur. Therefore, it may be reasonably inferred that the sulfur content is zero. The amount of graphite particles is 40-80 % by weight (par. 48).
In an example, the conductive sheet has a thickness of 0.15 mm, which equates to 150 µm (par. 76).
A method of forming the thermally conductive sheet includes a step of forming a primary sheet including the graphite and the polymer, a laminating step, and a slicing step (par. 74-76).
Yoshikawa et al does not teach the content of the hydroxy groups in mmol/g.
However, Suzuki et al teaches a thermally conductive sheet comprising a polymer wherein the polymer contains 0.1-2 mmol/g of carboxyl groups (p. 2, claim 1). A carboxyl content in the above range provides adequate strength and flexibility (p. 8). It is well known in the art that a carboxyl group includes one hydroxy group. Therefore, the corresponding hydroxy content is 0.1-2 mmol/g.
A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the hydroxy group content of Suzuki et al with the polymer comprising hydroxy of Yoshikawa et al in order to provide adequate strength and flexibility.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshikawa et al (JP 2012-158695, included in the IDS) in view of Suzuki et al (JP 2011-184663, included in the IDS) and further in view of Yoshikawa et al (US 2010/0073882).
Yoshikawa et al (JP 2012-158695) in view of Suzuki et al (JP 2011-184663) teaches a method of forming a thermally conductive sheet as described above.
Yoshikawa et al (JP 2012-158695) in view of Suzuki et al (JP 2011-184663) does not teach that the primary sheet is formed by coating.
However, Yoshikawa et al (US 2010/0073882) teaches a method of making a thermally conductive sheet comprising a step of making a primary sheet by painting a composition onto a substrate (par. 88, 113). Painting onto a substrate satisfies coating.
Yoshikawa et al (JP 2012-158695) and Yoshikawa et al (US 2010/0073882) are both directed to a method of making a thermally conductive sheet comprising a step of forming a primary sheet composed of graphite and polymer. Yoshikawa et al (US 2010/0073882) further teaches that the primary sheet is formed by painting (coating) the graphite and polymer composition onto a substrate. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the painting (coating) step of Yoshikawa et al (US 2010/0073882) with the method of Yoshikawa et al (JP 2012-158695) in view of Suzuki et al (JP 2011-184663) in order to obtain a known and convenient means of forming the primary sheet.
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.
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