DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/23/25 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1 and 4-12 are currently pending. Claims 2 and 3 are cancelled. The amended claim 1 does overcome the previously stated 103 rejections. However, upon further consideration, claims 1 and 4-12 are rejected under the following new 112 and 103 rejections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1 and 4-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 4-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The limitation “a height of the at least one position guide is less than … a height of the gasket band” is not supported by the specification. The dimensions of the position guide “500” appears to be supported by Figs. 6 and 7 which shows the height of the position guide “500” being equal to the height of the gasket band “100”, but not explicitly less than the height of the gasket band.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 and 4-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto (US 2013/0249173) in view of Yang et al (KR 20140055766 A, machine translation).
Regarding claims 1, 4-7, 9, 10, and 12, Yamamoto discloses an electric vehicle comprising: a battery pack comprising:
at least one battery module comprising at least one battery cell;
a base portion “3” (case tray) configured to support the battery module;
a cover “2” (case cover) coupled to the base portion such that the at least one battery module is located between the base portion and the cover;
a gasket “1” (sealing gasket) disposed between an edge of the base portion and an edge of the cover, the gasket comprising at least one positioning projections “16” (position guide) configured to guide positioning of the gasket between the base portion and the cover when the base portion and the cover are coupled to each other;
wherein the gasket includes:
a main body portion “11” (gasket band) corresponding to shapes of the edge of the base portion and the edge of the cover, the main body portion having a first surface facing the base portion, a second surface facing the cover, and a pair of edge surfaces connecting the first surface and the second surface;
a plurality of through holes “14” (fastening portion) on the gasket and, each through hole configured to receive a bolt (fastener) for coupling the base portion and the cover, and wherein the at least one positioning projection is provided between the plurality of through holes, the at least one positioning projection configured to protrude from the main body portion by a predetermined length;
wherein the gasket further comprises a mountain portion “122” (elastic bead) formed on an outer circumferential surface of the main body portion (gasket band), the mountain portion (elastic bead) being elastically deformable when the base portion (case tray) and the cover (case cover) are coupled to each other;
wherein the elastic bead comprises: a mountain portion “122” (band bead) formed on the outer circumferential surface of the main body portion; and end portions “151” (fastening bead) formed on outer circumferential surfaces of the plurality of fastening portions “14”;
wherein the band bead extends in a longitudinal direction of the main body portion (gasket band);
wherein the gasket further comprises a small projection “13” (guide bead) at the at least one positioning projection “16” (position guide) ([0004],[0006],[0037]-[0039],[0041] and Figs. 1, 4, 5, and 7).
However, Yamamoto does not expressly teach at least one position guide that is provided between the plurality of fastening portions, the at least one position guide protruding from one of the pair of edge surfaces of the gasket band in a direction normal to the one of the pair of edge surfaces by a predetermined length, wherein a height of the at least one position guide is less than or equal to a height of the gasket band (claim 1); wherein the at least one position guide is provided as a plurality of position guides, and wherein the plurality of position guides are provided as at least one or more position guides between adjacent fastening portions of the plurality of fastening portions (claim 9).
Yang et al teaches the concept of forming a position-fixing protrusion “101” (position guide) protruding from one of the edge surface of a asymmetrical loop portion “109” (gasket band) in a direction normal to the one of the edge surface by a predetermined length, wherein a height of the position-fixing protrusion is equal to a height of the asymmetrical loop portion; wherein one or more position fixing protrusions may be formed at regular intervals on the asymmetrically shaped loop portion ([0036]-[0038] and Fig. 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Yamamoto gasket to include at least one position guide that is provided between the plurality of fastening portions, the at least one position guide protruding from one of the pair of edge surfaces of the gasket band in a direction normal to the one of the pair of edge surfaces by a predetermined length, wherein a height of the at least one position guide is less than or equal to a height of the gasket band; wherein the at least one position guide is provided as a plurality of position guides, and wherein the plurality of position guides are provided as at least one or more position guides between adjacent fastening portions of the plurality of fastening portions in order to enable the gasket to be firmly fixed without coming off from the groove during assembly, thereby improving the airtightness after assembly ([0023]).
Regarding claim 8, Yamamoto as modified by Yang et al does not expressly teach at least one position guide that has a protrusion length from the gasket band that is at least the same as protrusion lengths of the plurality of fastening portions from the gasket band.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Yamamoto/Yang gasket to include protrusion length from the gasket band that is at least the same as protrusion lengths of the plurality of fastening portions from the gasket band because changes in size/proportion was held to have been obvious (In re Rose, 220 F.2d 459, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955)). There is no evidence of criticality of the claimed lengths of the position guide and fastening portions.
Regarding claim 11, Yamamoto as modified by Yang et al does not expressly teach an additional guide located on a side of the gasket band opposite a side of the gasket band where the at least one position guide is located.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Yamamoto/Yang gasket to include an additional guide located on a side of the gasket band opposite a side of the gasket band where the at least one position guide is located because the addition of a position guide on the opposite side of the gasket where the position guide is located is an obvious choice in design which one of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to make in order to facilitate the installation of the gasket on the cover, thereby any unnecessary stress is not applied to the gasket at an installing time.
Claims 1 and 4-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto (US 2013/0249173) in view of Kobayashi et al (JP 2016096080 A, machine translation).
Regarding claims 1, 4-7, 9, 10, and 12, Yamamoto discloses an electric vehicle comprising: a battery pack comprising:
at least one battery module comprising at least one battery cell;
a base portion “3” (case tray) configured to support the battery module;
a cover “2” (case cover) coupled to the base portion such that the at least one battery module is located between the base portion and the cover;
a gasket “1” (sealing gasket) disposed between an edge of the base portion and an edge of the cover, the gasket comprising at least one positioning projections “16” (position guide) configured to guide positioning of the gasket between the base portion and the cover when the base portion and the cover are coupled to each other;
wherein the gasket comprises:
a main body portion “11” (gasket band) corresponding to shapes of the edge of the base portion and the edge of the cover, the main body portion having a first surface facing the base portion, a second surface facing the cover, and a pair of edge surfaces connecting the first surface and the second surface;
a plurality of through holes “14” (fastening portion) on the gasket and, each through hole configured to receive a bolt (fastener) for coupling the base portion and the cover, and wherein the at least one positioning projection is provided between the plurality of through holes, the at least one positioning projection configured to protrude from the main body portion by a predetermined length;
wherein the gasket further comprises a mountain portion “122” (elastic bead) formed on an outer circumferential surface of the main body portion (gasket band), the mountain portion (elastic bead) being elastically deformable when the base portion (case tray) and the cover (case cover) are coupled to each other;
wherein the elastic bead comprises: a mountain portion “122” (band bead) formed on the outer circumferential surface of the main body portion; and end portions “151” (fastening bead) formed on outer circumferential surfaces of the plurality of fastening portions “14”;
wherein the band bead extends in a longitudinal direction of the main body portion (gasket band);
wherein the gasket further comprises a small projection “13” (guide bead) at the at least one positioning projection “16” (position guide) ([0004],[0006],[0037]-[0039],[0041] and Figs. 1, 4, 5, and 7).
However, Yamamoto does not expressly teach at least one position guide that is provided between the plurality of fastening portions, the at least one position guide protruding from one of the pair of edge surfaces of the gasket band in a direction normal to the one of the pair of edge surfaces by a predetermined length, wherein a height of the at least one position guide is less than or equal to a height of the gasket band (claim 1); wherein the at least one position guide is provided as a plurality of position guides, and wherein the plurality of position guides are provided as at least one or more position guides between adjacent fastening portions of the plurality of fastening portions (claim 9).
Kobayashi et al discloses a plurality of extension portions “113a” (position guide) protruding from one of the edge surface of the thick portion “111” (gasket band) in a direction normal to the one of the edge surface by a predetermined length, wherein a height of the at least one extension portions “113a” is less than a height of the thick portion (gasket band) or a height of the at least one extension portions “113a” is equal to a height of the connecting portion “114” (gasket band), wherein the at least one extension portion is provided as a plurality of extension portions ([0080],[0084],[0091],[0092] and Figs. 10 and 12).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Yamamoto gasket to include a position guide that is provided between the plurality of fastening portions, the position guide protruding from one of the pair of edges surfaces of the gasket band in a direction normal to the one of the pair of edges surfaces by a predetermined length, wherein a height of the at least one position guide is less than or equal to a height of the gasket band, wherein a plurality of position guides are provided as at least one or more position guides between adjacent fastening portions of the plurality of fastening portions in order to provide extension portions to stably place the gasket on concave portions of the cover and base portion ([0091]).
Regarding claim 8, Yamamoto as modified by Kobayashi et al does not expressly teach at least one position guide that has a protrusion length from the gasket band that is at least the same as protrusion lengths of the plurality of fastening portions from the gasket band (claim 8);
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Yamamoto/Kobayashi gasket to include position guide that has a protrusion length from the gasket band that is at least the same as protrusion lengths of the plurality of fastening portions from the gasket band because changes in size/proportion was held to have been obvious (In re Rose, 220 F.2d 459, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955)). There is no evidence of criticality of the claimed lengths of the position guide and fastening portions.
Regarding claim 11, Kobayashi also discloses an additional extension portion (guide) located on a side of the gasket band opposite a side of the gasket band where the at least one position guide is located ([0099]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 4-12 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/T.S.C/Examiner, Art Unit 1751
/JONATHAN G LEONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1751 12/8/2025