Ex Parte Takahashi et alDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMay 7, 201914125399 - (D) (P.T.A.B. May. 7, 2019) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 14/125,399 12/11/2013 23373 7590 05/09/2019 SUGHRUE MION, PLLC 2100 PENNSYLVANIA A VENUE, N.W. SUITE 800 WASHINGTON, DC 20037 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Akira Takahashi 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. Q208777 8699 EXAMINER EGGERDING, ALIX ECHELMEYER ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 1729 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/09/2019 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): PPROCESSING@SUGHRUE.COM sughrue@sughrue.com USPTO@sughrue.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte AKIRA TAKAHASHI, MASAKI HORIKITA, TAKUY A IMAI, Y ASU AKI W AKIZAKA, and T AKASHI SATO Appeal2018-007264 Application 14/125,399 Technology Center 1700 Before BEYERL YA. FRANKLIN, KAREN M. HASTINGS, and JEFFREY B. ROBERTSON, Administrative Patent Judges. ROBERTSON, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL 1 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellants2 appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's Final Rejection of claims 1-9. (Appeal Br. 4.) We have jurisdiction pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ). We AFFIRM. 1 This Decision includes citations to the following documents: Specification filed December 11, 2013 ("Spec."); Final Office Action dated May 31, 2017 ("Final Act."); Appeal Brief filed January 30, 2018 ("Appeal Br."); Examiner's Answer dated April 20, 2018 ("Ans."); and Reply Brief filed June 19, 2018 ("Reply Br."). 2 Appellants identify SHOW A DENKO K.K. as the real party in interest. (Appeal Br. 2.) Appeal2018-007264 Application 14/125,399 THE INVENTION Appellants state that the invention relates to a fuel cell electrode catalyst and a production process thereof. (Spec. ,r 1.) Claim 1, the only independent claim on appeal, is representative and reproduced below from the Claims Appendix to the Appeal Brief: 1. A fuel cell electrode catalyst comprising, at least: Ml that is at least one element selected from 3 to 7 group transition metal elements; M2 that is at least one element selected from iron group elements; M3 that is at least one element selected from 13 group elements; carbon; nitrogen; and oxygen, as constitutional elements, wherein when the atomic ratios of the elements (Ml: M2: M3: carbon: nitrogen: oxygen) are represented by a:b:c:x:y:z, OCopy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation