Ex Parte Ichikawa

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jan 30, 2014

12090151 (P.T.A.B. Jan. 30, 2014)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARKOFFICE
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
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
12/090,151 04/14/2008 Yasushi Ichikawa 040356-0615 9873
22428 7590 01/31/2014
FOLEY AND LARDNER LLP
SUITE 500
3000 K STREET NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20007
EXAMINER
GATEWOOD, DANIEL S
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
1729
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
01/31/2014 PAPER
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.
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
_________

BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
__________

Ex parte YASUSHI ICHIKAWA
__________

Appeal 2013-000717
Application 12/090,151
Technology Center 1700
___________

Before ADRIENE LEPIANE HANLON, ROMULO H. DELMENDO, and
JAMES C. HOUSEL, Administrative Patent Judges.

HANLON, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

Appeal 2013-000717
Application 12/090,151

2

A. STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The Appellant filed an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from an Examiner’s
decision finally rejecting claims 11-14 and 16-19.1 An oral hearing was held on
January 14, 2014. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.
The subject matter on appeal is directed to a fluid passage structure for a fuel
cell stack. Claim 11 is the only independent claim on appeal and is reproduced
below from the Claims Appendix of the Appeal Brief dated May 21, 2012 (“App.
Br.”). The limitation at issue is italicized.
11. A fluid passage structure for a fuel cell stack comprising an
internal manifold formed on an inner side of a laminated body of a
plurality of fuel cells in a lamination direction, each fuel cell
comprising an in-cell fluid passage connected to the internal manifold
from an orthogonal direction, and an external fluid passage that
supplies a fluid to the internal manifold, the external fluid passage
being connected to one end of the internal manifold from an
orthogonal direction, comprising:
a connection portion that connects the external fluid passage to
the internal manifold diagonally when viewed from a central axis
direction of the internal manifold such that the external fluid passage
and a formation direction of the in-cell fluid passage form a
predetermined intersection angle which is larger than zero degrees
and smaller than ninety degrees.
The claims stand rejected as follows:
(1) claims 11, 12, 14, and 16-19 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over Harada2 in view of Kikuchi;3 and

1 Claims 15 and 20 are also pending but have been withdrawn from consideration.
2 US 2005/0221159 A1, published October 6, 2005.
Appeal 2013-000717
Application 12/090,151

3

(2) claim 13 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Harada in
view of Kikuchi and Gibb.4
B. DISCUSSION
The Examiner finds Harada discloses a fluid passage structure for a fuel cell
stack as recited in claim 11, with the exception of:
a connection portion that connects the external fluid passage to
the internal manifold diagonally when viewed from a central axis
direction of the internal manifold such that the external fluid passage
and a formation direction of the in-cell fluid passage form a
predetermined intersection angle which is larger than zero degrees and
smaller than ninety degrees.
Final 3:5 Ans. 6.6
The Examiner relies on Kikuchi Drawing 7 to teach “an internal manifold
[30 or 31] which is connected to a fuel supply line [32 or 33]” and provides an
annotated Drawing 7, reproduced below, to show that “the fuel supply line is
coming in at a diagonal and obviously at an angle between 0 and 90.” Final 4;
Ans. 6.

3 JP 2004-259637, published September 16, 2004.
4 US 6,159,629, issued December 12, 2000.
5 Final Office action dated November 9, 2011.
6 Examiner’s Answer dated August 14, 2012.
Appeal
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Appeal 2013-000717
Application 12/090,151

5

the Examiner has not made specific findings of fact and conclusions of law as to
the additional limitation in claim 11 that this diagonal connection is “such that the
external fluid passage and a formation direction of the in-cell fluid passage form a
predetermined intersection angle which is larger than zero degrees and smaller than
ninety degrees.” For these reasons, the § 103(a) rejection of claims 11, 12, 14, and
16-19 is not sustained.
The Examiner does not rely on Gibb to cure the deficiencies in Kikuchi.
Therefore, the § 103(a) rejection of claim 13 is not sustained.
C. DECISION
The decision of the Examiner is reversed.

REVERSED

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