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 .
Claims Status
Claims 1, 2 and 4-6 are pending. Claim 1 has been amended. Claim 3 has been canceled.
Applicant’s arguments, filed 04/29/2026, with respect to 102 rejections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of claims 1, 2 and 4-6 have been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 04/29/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Previous art rejections have been modified as necessitated by the amendment. See response to arguments below.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 1, 2 and 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trenkle et al. (US 20120121925 A1) in view of Rehbein et al. (US 20070275611 A1).
Considering claims 1, 2 and 4, Trenkle discloses a silver-plated product comprising: a base material (abstract); and a surface layer of silver which is formed on the base material, the surface layer having an average crystallite size of not greater than 25 nm [0081] and having a hardness of at least 2 GPa (about 200 HV) [0080], which is within the claimed range of not less than 150. Trankle does not use antimony therefore, the amount of antimony in the surface layer being 0.1 % by weight or less. In particular example Trinkle discloses 1.5 at% of tungsten, 22 nm grain size, and hardness of 2.4 GPa (about 240 HV) ([0091], Table 1 example 1).
Trankle teaches lubricating layer may be further applied comprising for example carbon nanotubes [0064].
Trankle does not disclose the surface layer contains 1 to 10% by weight of carbon.
However, Rehbein discloses a silver coating layer on a copper-based substrate with graphite content of 1 to 3 wt% (abstract), for the purpose of lubricating and good electrical conductivity of the contact in plug-in cycle [0024].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a 1-3 wt% of graphite in the silver coting layer of Trankle, because Trankle teaches using a lubricating carbon nanotube, and Rehbein discloses a silver coating layer on a copper-based substrate with graphite content of 1 to 3 wt%, for the purpose of lubricating and good electrical conductivity of the contact in plug-in cycle.
Considering claims 5 and 6, Trenkle discloses base material is copper alloy (brass) with nickel layer between the base material and the surface layer ([0090] and Table 2).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/29/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
In particular Applicant argues that Rehbein fails to disclose or suggest any method for causing a surface layer of silver containing 1 to 10 % by weight of carbon to have an average crystallite size of not greater than 25 nm and a Vickers hardness HV of not less than 150 and Trenkle fails to disclose or suggest any surface layer of silver containing 1 to 10 % by weight of carbon.
Applicant further alleges that one of ordinary skill in the art would not have been motivated to combine the coating of Trenkle with the Ag layer of Rehbein to produce a silver-plated product as claimed without providing any particular reason. In contrast, Rehbein explicitly provides motivation to add graphite content of 1 to 3 wt% to a silver coating layer, for the purpose of lubricating and good electrical conductivity of the contact in plug-in cycle.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Wojciech Haske whose telephone number is (571)272-5666. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30 am - 6:00 pm.
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/WOJCIECH HASKE/ Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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