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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2022/0255060 (US ‘060).
As to Claim 1, US ‘060 discloses a slurry composition (para. 0117) which is comprised of carbon nanotubes, carbon based active material (which the Examiner construes as a type of conductive material), negative active electrode material (e.g. silicon material), binder and dispersants (Abstract) wherein the dispersants are a mixture of carboxymethyl cellulose polymers wherein the first polymer has molecular weight range of 350,000 to 750,000 and the second polymer has a molecular weight range of 800,000 to 1,600,000.
However, the reference fails to disclose a composition wherein one of the carboxymethyl cellulose polymers has a molecular weight of 300,000 or less as required by the claim.
As to the difference, a prima facie case of obviousness exists where the claimed ranges and prior art ranges do not overlap but are close enough that one skilled in the art would have expected them to have the same properties, see Titanium Metals Corp. of America v. Banner, 778F.2d 775,227 USPQ 773 (Fed. Cir. 1985). See MPEP 2144.051.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Specifically, none of the prior art discloses the slurry composition of Claim 1 with the viscosity measurement at the shear rate required by Claim 2 nor is there any teaching, suggestion or motivation in the prior art to arrive at the claimed limitation.
The Examiner notes that comparative data illustrating the criticality of the molecular weight endpoint of 350,000 has been reviewed in the instant Specification but no comparative data has been found.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAISON P THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)272-8917. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 9:00 am-3:30 pm EST.
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/J.P.T/Examiner, Art Unit 1762
/jt/ 6/9/2026
/ROBERT S JONES JR/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1762
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