DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 6/23/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over USPAP 2012/0305158 to Hayashi in view of USPAP 2017/0050468 to Delfino.
Claims 1, 2, 4 and 8, Hayashi discloses an elastomer-metal cord composite, comprising a plurality of metal cords, wherein each metal cord of the plurality of metal cords consists of a bundle of plural metal filaments arranged in a single row without being twisted together is coated with an elastomer, wherein a gap is provided between adjacent metal filaments, and an inter-cord distance (A1), which is a distance between adjacent metal cords of the plurality of metal cords measured in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the metal cords, is 1.0 to 2.0 mm; and wherein the adjacent metal filaments inherently have an elastomer coating ratio of 80% or higher per unit length on a widthwise side surface of the metal cord due to the gap between filaments (see entire document including Figure 3, [0016], [0020], [0028], [0035]-[0041]).
Hayashi illustrates the filaments with a gap between the filaments (Figure 3) but does not appear to mention a specific gap distance. Delfino discloses that it is known in the art to construct a cord composite with a gap distance (G) wherein gap distance divided filament diameter equals 0.1 to 3 (d/DM = 0.1 to 3) to maintain flexibility and uniform deformation (see entire document including Figures 1 and 2 and [0125]-[0126]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to construct the cord composite of Hayashi with a gap distance (G) as taught by Delfino to maintain flexibility and uniform deformation.
Hayashi discloses that the number of metal filaments constituting the metal cord (N) may be 3 to 6 [0039]. Hayashi also discloses that the diameter (D) of the metal filaments may be 0.18 to 0.35 mm [0035] while Delfino teaches gap distance divided filament diameter is to equal 0.1 to 3. Therefore, when the filament diameter is 0.35 mm, the prior art teaches the gap distance (G) may be 0.2 (0.2/0.35 = 0.57). The prior art values (D = 0.35, N = 4 and G = 0.2) satisfy claimed Formula (1) resulting in a value of 0.55.
Claim 16, 17 and 19, Hayashi discloses that a tire may comprise the elastomer-metal cord composite [0001].
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/23/2025 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW T PIZIALI whose telephone number is (571)272-1541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm.
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/ANDREW T PIZIALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789