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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 Jan. 27, 2026 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Allsop et al. (US 5456481) (“Allsop”), in view of Al-Sheyyab et al. (US 2014/0191492 A1) (“Al-Sheyyab”).
With respect to claim 1, Allsop discloses a structure (abstr.) comprising a first composite structure component – element 236 – including a thermoplastic material including a plurality of fibers (col. 9, lines 16-52), an outside edge – Fig. 17 – and an inside edge formed of material including a thermoplastic material (col. 9, lines 49-51), being continuous and formed in a closed loop (Fig. 17), and a second composite structure – element 238 including a thermoplastic material including a plurality of fibers (col. 9, lines 16-52), an outside edge – Fig. 17, and an inside edge formed of a material including a thermoplastic material (col. 9, lines 49-51), being continuous and formed in a closed loop (Fig. 17), wherein the inside edge of the first composite structure component is edge-to-edge joined to the inside edge of the second structure component, wherein the outside edge of the first composite structure component is edge-to-edge joined to the outside edge of the second composite structure component, and wherein an interior volume is formed between adjacent surfaces of the first and second composite components (col. 9, lines 30-67, col. 10, lines 1-12, Fig. 17).
Allsop discloses that the first and second composite structure components comprise thermoplastic material including fibers (col. 9, lines 49-52), but is silent with respect to the first and second composite structure components comprising a plurality of sheets of thermoplastic material, the inside edges formed exclusively of the thermoplastic material alone.
Al-Sheyyab discloses a structure to be used in a bicycle frame (abstr.), as is the structure of Allsop (abstr.), the structure comprising two units formed of a plurality of sheets of thermoplastic material, the thermoplastic material including thermoplastic fibers – aramid fibers (0020-0022). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include thermoplastic fibers in the thermoplastic material of Allsop. It has been held to select a known material based on its suitability for its intended use to be an obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 277 F.2d 197, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA 1960). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the first and second composite structure components of Allsop wherein the thermoplastic material includes thermoplastic fibers, the components comprising plurality of sheets, as it is known in the art of bicycle structures to form them from plurality of sheets. Since in the structure of Allsop and Al-Sheyyab the material of components includes thermoplastic material comprising a plurality of thermoplastic fibers, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention that in the structure according to the references the inside edges of the first and second composite structure components are formed exclusively of a thermoplastic material.
Regarding claim 2, Allsop and Al-Sheyyab teach the structure of claim 1. Allsop discloses the structure comprises a first auxiliary aperture formed in the first composite structure – element 290 (col. 10, lines 8-15).
As to claim 3, Allsop and Al-Sheyyab teach the structure of claim 2. Allsop discloses the structure comprises a second auxiliary aperture formed in the second composite structure – the first and second composite structure components are mirror images (col. 10, lines 8-15).
With respect to claim 4, Allsop and Al-Sheyyab teach the structure of claim 3. Since the first and second composite structure components are mirror images of each other, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the first auxiliary aperture is adjacent to the second auxiliary aperture in the structure of Allsop.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on Nov. 28, 2025 have been fully considered. Applicant’s arguments with respect to Al-Sheyyab have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on that reference as applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOANNA PLESZCZYNSKA whose telephone number is (571)270-1617. The examiner can normally be reached M-F ~ 11:30-8.
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/Joanna Pleszczynska/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783