2014 (Gyo-Ke) 10097 [Flat Nonaqueous Electrolyte Secondary Battery] <Shimizu>
更新日：1 日前
Article information
Article type: Case note
Category: Patents
Topics: Design choices
First published on this website: 2026-11-01
Display and classification checked: November 2, 2026
Originally published on Ameblo: 2025-04-07 (Japan time). Full English translation.
2014 (Gyo-Ke) 10097 [Flat Nonaqueous Electrolyte Secondary Battery] <Shimizu>
*Five opposing faces are “tantamount to being described” in the earlier specification. +The number of layers is a matter of design choice.
⇒ Violation of the expanded-prior-application rule
(Excerpts from the court's reasoning)
Although the only number of opposing faces between the positive and negative electrode plates specifically stated in Exhibit Ko 1 … is three, the invention in Exhibit Ko 1 is not, in the first place, limited to three opposing faces. It seeks to enlarge the opposing area between the positive and negative electrode plates by stacking them, and it is also clear that increasing the number of stacked positive and negative electrode plates (that is, the number of their opposing faces) simply increases the opposing area proportionally. Thus, Exhibit Ko 1 can be regarded as tantamount to describing not only three opposing faces between the positive and negative electrode plates, but multiple faces, namely two or four or more. Accordingly, Exhibit Ko 1 is found also to describe at least five opposing faces between the active-material-containing layers of said positive and negative electrode plates facing each other through a separator. The number of stacked positive and negative electrode plates (that is, opposing faces) is merely a matter of design choice determined according to the required discharge-capacity level under heavy-load discharge.
…Difference A identified by the trial decision amounts to quantitative differences between the invention at issue and the invention in Exhibit Ko 1 concerning (1) the number of opposing faces and (2) the relative sizes of the opposing area and the gasket opening area. …Both inventions use, as an electrode group in a flat nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery, a multilayer stack of positive electrode plates having active-material-containing layers on the surfaces of positive electrode constituents and negative electrode plates having active-material-containing layers on the surfaces of negative electrode constituents, with separators interposed, thereby increasing the sum of the opposing areas between the active-material-containing layers of the positive and negative electrode plates and increasing discharge capacity under heavy-load discharge. They thus share the same problem and means of solving it. …The fact that increasing the number of opposing faces beyond five produces little change in heavy-load discharge capacity, and sometimes diminishing capacity, may be unexpected. However, the invention at issue addresses the technical problem of increasing discharge capacity under heavy-load discharge and specifies a lower limit, not an upper limit, on the number of opposing faces. The failure of discharge capacity to increase proportionally with the number of opposing faces therefore cannot be regarded as a new effect of the invention.
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The first-published date remains unchanged. Display maintenance, classification changes, related-article updates, and text corrections are recorded separately.
November 1, 2026: First published on this website.
November 2, 2026: Added article information, classification, topics, language navigation, related articles where the same case was confirmed, consultation guidance, and SEO. The original text and first-published date were preserved.
