Notice of 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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Lee (US 8,771,025).
With respect to Claim 1; Lee [Figs. 4, 5] disclose a terminal block comprising: a main body 2 made of resin [Col. 3, lines19-20]; and a terminal 1 partly molded into the main body, the terminal includes: a first hole 121 extending through a first portion 12 that protrudes outward from one surface of the main body 2 in an inclined direction intersecting both a vertical direction and a horizontal direction [Fig. 5]; and a second hole 14 extending through a second portion that spans from an inside of the main body to the first hole 121 in one of the vertical direction and the horizontal direction.
With respect to Claim 2; Lee discloses the terminal 1 has a plate shape [Col. 3, L 22-24], and has an attachment [Col. 3, L 52-55] through which the first hole 121 extends in a plate thickness direction in the first portion 12 that protrudes outward from the one surface of the main body 2.
With respect to Claim 3; Lee discloses the terminal 1 has a third hole 14 extending through a third portion 13 that protrudes outward [at 11] from another surface different from the one surface of the main body [Fig. 5], in the horizontal direction.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form or amended into the respective independent base claim including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 4; allowability resides at least in part with the prior art not showing or fairly teaching a terminal block having a terminal with a first hole and second hole, the terminal being partly molded into a main body of resin where the main body has a primary mold with an opening positioned coaxially with the second hole of the terminal and extends through the primary mold and is filled by a secondary mold in conjunction with ALL the remaining limitations within claims 1 and 4.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure: US 8,608,515 Tate et al. [Fig. 7] discloses a terminal block having a terminal (10) partly molded into a main body of resin where the main body has a primary mold (61) with an opening filled by a secondary mold (57).
However the opening is not positioned coaxially with a second hole in the terminal nor does the opening extend through the primary mold.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning communications from the examiner should be directed to
Vanessa Girardi: Office phone 571.272.5924
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm est
Vanessa.Girardi@USPTO.Gov
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool.
To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
Authorization for Email Communication — In the event Applicant wishes to communicate with the Examiner via electronic mail, written authorization should be provided in Applicant’s next response. See MPEP § 502.03. The following is a sample authorization statement which may be used by Applicant:
Recognizing that Internet communications are not secure, we hereby authorize the USPTO to communicate with any authorized representative concerning any subject matter of this application by electronic mail. We understand that a copy of these communications will be made of record in the application file.
If attempts to reach the examiner are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor Renee S. Luebke can be reached at 571.272.2009.
The central fax phone number for the organization is 571.273.8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov.
Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and
https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx about filing in DOCX format.
[AltContent: textbox (VANESSA GIRARDI )]For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/VANESSA GIRARDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2833