Ex Parte Otohata et al

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Mar 28, 2012

11573538 (B.P.A.I. Mar. 28, 2012)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
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Ex parte MAKIHIRO OTOHATA and HIROSHI YAGETA
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Appeal 2011-002736
Application 11/573,538
Technology Center 1700
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Before BRADLEY R. GARRIS, PETER F. KRATZ, and
CATHERINE Q. TIMM, Administrative Patent Judges.

GARRIS, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the Examiner's
rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) of sole independent claim 18 as
unpatentable over Makihiro (JP 2004-055290, pub. Feb. 19, 2004, as
translated) and of remaining claims 2-10 and 21-23 as unpatentable over
Makihiro alone or further in view of other prior art of record. We have
jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6.
We REVERSE.
Appeal 2011-002736
Application 11/573,538

2
Appellants claim a film-encased electric device 1 comprising an
electric device element 2, encasing films 4, 5 of resin layers thermally fused
to each other along outer peripheral regions to provide a heat-sealed area
therealong, and a pressure releaser 7 disposed in a portion of the heat-sealed
area, the pressure releaser being arranged to allow the thermally fused
encasing films to peel off more preferentially than other regions due to
internal pressure build up, "said pressure releaser having a cross-linked
structure [8] made of a cross-linked resin with a lower peel strength than the
rest of the heat-sealed area" (claim 18; Fig. 5).
Independent claim 18 reads as follows:
18. A film-encased electric device comprising:

an electric device element having a positive pole tab and a negative
pole tab connected thereto;

encasing films having at least respective heat-sealable resin layers and
which surround said electric device element with the heat-sealable resin
layers that face each other, the facing heat-sealable resin layers being
thermally fused to each other along outer peripheral regions thereof to
provide a heat-sealed area therealong, said encasing films having an inner
space therebetween that serves as an electric device element housing which
accommodates said electric device element sealed therein, with said positive
pole tab and said negative pole tab extending from said electric device
element; and

a pressure releaser disposed in a portion of said heat-sealed area on a
side from which said positive pole tab and said negative pole tab extend,
between said positive pole tab and said negative pole tab, or on a side
different from the side from which said positive pole tab and said negative
pole tab extend, said pressure releaser being arranged to allow said thermally
fused encasing films to peel off progressively more preferentially therein
than other regions due to internal pressure buildup in said electric device
element housing;
Appeal 2011-002736
Application 11/573,538

3
said pressure releaser having a cross-linked structure made of a cross-
linked resin with a lower peel strength than the rest of the heat-sealed area
and disposed in a continuous region in which said cross-linked structure has
a portion exposed to said electric device element housing and another
portion held in contact with ambient air.

The rejection of claim 18 is based on the Examiner's finding that
Makihiro discloses in paragraphs [0017] and [0018] a film-encased electric
device having a pressure releaser with lower bonding strength comprising
thermosetting resin which the Examiner additionally finds would include a
cross-linked structure (Ans. 4-6, 11, para. bridging 17-18).
We agree with Appellants that Makihiro contains no such disclosure
of the previously quoted claim 18 limitation (App. Br. 10; Reply Br. 4-5).
As correctly explained by Appellants, paragraphs [0017] and [0018] of
Makihiro are directed to different pressure releaser embodiments (Reply Br.
5). While the paragraph [0017] pressure releaser possesses lower bonding
strength and the paragraph [0018] pressure releaser includes thermosetting
resin, Appellants are correct that neither of these embodiments comprises the
claim 18 pressure releaser having a cross-linked structure made of a cross-
linked resin with a lower peel strength than the rest of the heat-sealed area
(id.).
For these reasons, we cannot sustain the Examiner's § 103 rejections
of the appealed claims.
The decision of the Examiner is reversed.
REVERSED

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