Ex Parte Day et alDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMay 10, 201912633606 - (D) (P.T.A.B. May. 10, 2019) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR 12/633,606 12/08/2009 23570 7590 05/14/2019 PORTER WRIGHT MORRIS & ARTHUR, LLP INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY GROUP 41 SOUTH HIGH STREET 29THFLOOR COLUMBUS, OH 43215 Michael J. Day UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 3995591-181717 5980 EXAMINER CHERNOW, FRANK A ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 1729 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/14/2019 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): ipdocket@porterwright.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Exparte MICHAEL J. DAY, SCOTT L. SWARTZ, MATTHEW M. SEABAUGH, and PAUL H. MATTER Appeal 2018-002525 Application 12/633,606 Technology Center 1700 Before TERRY J. OWENS, DONNA M. PRAISS, and BRIAND. RANGE, Administrative Patent Judges. OWENS, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE The Appellant (Nexceris Innovation Holdings, LLC) appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's rejection of claims 1, 3, 4, 6-9, 12- 17, 21, 22, and 24-30, which constitute all the claims pending in this application. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). Appeal 2018-002525 Application 12/633,606 The Invention The claims are to an anode current collector and a solid oxide fuel cell containing the anode current collector. Claims 1 and 9 are illustrative: Aitken et al. ("Aitken") Seabaugh et al. ("Seabaugh") Cutler et al. ("Cutler") The References us 5,273,837 US 2003/0027033 Al US 2006/0197264 A 1 The Rejections Dec. 28, 1993 Feb. 6,2003 Sept. 7, 2006 The claims stand rejected as follows: claims 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 14, 15, 17, 25-28, and 30 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) over Aitken, claims 4 and 13 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over Aitken in view of Seabaugh, claims 7 and 16 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over Aitken, and claims 8, 21, 22, 24, and 29 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over Aitken in view of Cutler. OPINION We reverse the rejections. We need address only the independent claims (1, 9, 17, and 28). 1 "Anticipation requires that every limitation of the claim in issue be disclosed, either expressly or under principles of inherency, in a single prior art reference." Corning Glass Works v. Sumitomo Elec. U.S.A., Inc., 868 F.2d 1251, 1255-56 (Fed. Cir. 1989). Claims 1 and 28 Claim 1 requires that the internal and external surfaces of an anode current collector material in the form of a metallic mesh or foam have a cermet coating. Claim 28 includes the limitations of claim 1. 1 In the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a), the Examiner does not set forth any obviousness rationale regarding the limitations in the independent claims (Ans. 7-10). 2 Appeal 2018-002525 Application 12/633,606 Aitken discloses a solid electrolyte fuel cell comprising 1) nickel mesh anode grids ( 45a, 45b) (which the Examiner relies upon as corresponding to the Appellant's mesh (Ans. 3)), and 2) porous nickel- zirconia cermet anodes ( 44a, 44b) (which the Examiner relies upon as corresponding to the Appellant's cermet (id.)) made by applying a paste dispersion of nickel/zirconia powder in an organic vehicle over the anode grids ( 45a, 45b) in a quantity sufficient to fill the openings in the anode grid (45a, 45b)'s mesh and then firing the paste dispersion (col. 15, 11. 37-54). Each anode layer containing an anode ( 44a or 44b) and an anode grid ( 45a or 45b) is bonded on one of its sides to a flexible electrolyte sheet ( 42a or 42b ), and the anode layers are separated from each other at their other side by a corrugated sheet (50a) which provides oxidant access to the anode layers (col. 15, 1. 60- col. 16, 1. l; col. 16, 11. 4-9; Fig. 4). The Examiner finds that "[t]he Figure in Aitken clearly shows external surfaces of the mesh (45) being coated with the cermet/anode (44)" (Ans. 11). As indicated by the uppermost portion of Aitken's Figure 4, the anode grid (45a, 45b)'s external surfaces on one side of the anode layer (44a, 44b) are not coated with the nickel/zirconia paste dispersion that fills the openings in the anode grid (45a, 45b)'s mesh (col. 15, 11. 44-48), and the anode grid ( 45a, 45b )' s external surfaces on the other side of the anode layer ( 44a, 44b) are bonded to the flexible electrolyte sheet ( 42a, 42b) ( col. 15, 1. 65 - col.16, 1. 1 ). Thus, the anode grid ( 45a, 45b)' s external surfaces are not coated with the fired nickel/zirconia anode ( 44a, 44b) material which coats the internal surfaces of the anode grid (45a, 45b)'s mesh. The Examiner finds that Aitken' s 3 Appeal 2018-002525 Application 12/633,606 process of paste dispersion inherently causes thermal expansion which causes partial intermixing of the two layers therefore internal surfaces of the mesh as well as external surfaces are coated with cermet and the current collecting mesh with the intermixed cermet from paste dispersion and the cermet anode can still be two different layers. (Ans. 11). The meaning of that finding is not clear. Regardless, an inherent characteristic must be inevitable, and not merely a possibility or probability. See In re Oelrich, 666 F.2d 578, 581 (CCPA 1981). The Examiner does not establish that the asserted external mesh coating is inevitable. Claim 9 Claim 9 requires a cathode layer, a ceramic electrolyte layer adjacent the cathode layer, an anode layer adjacent the ceramic electrolyte layer, and an anode current collector which is adjacent the anode layer and between an interconnect layer and the anode layer. The Examiner finds that Aitken's anode grid 45b, which the Examiner relies upon as corresponding to the Appellant's anode current collector material (Ans. 4), is between the sintered ceramic material corrugated sheet 50a, which the Examiner relies upon as corresponding to the Appellant's interconnect layer (id.), and anode 44a (id.). As shown in Aitken's Figure 4, anode grid 45b is not between corrugated sheet 50a and anode 44a but, rather, corrugated sheet 50a is between anode grid 45b and anode 44a. The Examiner finds that Aitken' s "interconnect layer '50a' is in between anode collector '45b' and cathode layer 46a of the adjacent cell" (Ans. 5). 4 Appeal 2018-002525 Application 12/633,606 The Appellant's claim 1 requires that the anode current collector layer is adjacent the anode layer. Aitken's anode grid 45b is not adjacent the anode 44a which the Examiner relies upon as corresponding to the Appellant's anode layer (Ans. 4) but, rather, is separated therefrom by corrugated sheet 50a (Fig. 4). Thus, the Examiner does not establish that Aitken discloses, expressly or inherently, each limitation of the Appellant's independent claims 1 and 9, or independent claim 17 which includes the above-discussed limitations of both of those claims. For the above reasons we reverse the rejections. DECISION The rejections of claims 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 14, 15, 17, 25-28, and 30 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) over Aitken, claims 4 and 13 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over Aitken in view of Seabaugh, claims 7 and 16 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over Aitken, and claims 8, 21, 22, 24, and 29 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over Aitken in view of Cutler are reversed. The Examiner's decision is reversed. REVERSED 5 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation