Ex Parte Lee et al

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardSep 19, 2012

11643775 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 19, 2012)

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. 11/643,775 12/22/2006 Hoo San Lee 22208-00-US 4144 73462 7590 09/19/2012 Hall Estill Attorneys at Law (Seagate Technology LLC) 100 North Broadway, Suite 2900 Oklahoma City, OK 73102-8820 EXAMINER CHAU, LINDA N ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 1785 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 09/19/2012 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 HOO SAN LEE, HOON SANG OH, SOK HYUN KONG, and SEONG YONG YOON ____________ Appeal 2011-003899 Application 11/643,775 Technology Center 1700 ____________ Before HUBERT C. LORIN, JEFFREY T. SMITH, and BEVERLY A. FRANKLIN, Administrative Patent Judges. PER CURIAM DECISION ON APPEAL Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 134 from the Examiner's rejection of claims 1-6. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 6. STATEMENT OF THE CASE Claim 1 is representative of the subject matter on appeal and is set forth below: Appeal 2011-003899 Application 11/643,775 2 1. A perpendicular magnetic recording medium comprising: a perpendicular magnetic recording layer formed on a substrate; and a single soft magnetic under-layer formed between the substrate and the perpendicular magnetic recording layer, wherein the soft magnetic under-layer comprises an alloy of a non- magnetic material and a magnetic material which exists in the form of granular nanoparticles in the non-magnetic material, and at least two of the magnetic nanoparticles are spaced apart from one another by a predetermined distance so as to mutually make an anti-ferromagnetic coupling within the soft magnetic under-layer in a direction substantially parallel to a surface thereof facing the substrate. The prior art relied upon by the Examiner in rejecting the claims on appeal is: Ihara et al. (Ihara) US 2004/079104 Mar. 11, 2004 Bertero et al. (Bertero) US 2005/0008902 A1 Jan. 13, 2005 Ogiwara et al. (Ogiwara) JP 2002/063718 Feb. 28, 2002 Matsumoto (Matsumoto) JP 2004/227666 Aug. 12, 2004 THE REJECTIONS 1. Claims 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 102(b) as being anticipated by Bertero.1 2. Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Bertero in view of Ihara. 1 On page 3 of the Answer, the Examiner inadvertently listed claim 10 as being rejected in Rejection 1, but claim 10 was cancelled as indicated by Appellants on page 4 of their Brief. Appeal 2011-003899 Application 11/643,775 3 3. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Bertero in view of Ogiwara. 4. Claims 4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Bertero in view of Matsumoto. ANALYSIS We reverse the above rejections based on the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and rebuttals to arguments expressed by the Appellants in the Brief and Reply Brief. The decision of the Examiner is reversed. REVERSED cam