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 .
35 USC 103 Rejections
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 and 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2022-32605 in view of Suzuki et al 2014/0248787.
Regarding claim 1, JP ‘605 (Figure 6) substantially discloses the claimed invention, including a connector comprising: a housing that holds a terminal that is configured to be connected to a connection target, the housing including a fitting part 20 that is formed protruding toward a connection direction with respect to the connection target and is configured to be inserted into a fitting hole 521 formed in the connection target; and a seal member 42 that is attached to an outer periphery of the fitting part, the seal member coming in contact with an inner face of the fitting hole to stop water between the housing and the connection target, wherein the housing has an abutting part that extends from a base part side of the fitting part and abuts against an end part of the seal member, the abutting part is formed by being spaced apart from the outer periphery of the fitting part, the abutting part having a corner part between an opposing face opposing to the outer periphery of the fitting part and a top end face chamfered, and the seal member includes a lip that protrudes from an outer periphery. Suzuki et al (front page) discloses a seal member (unnumbered, through which lead line 11 extends) having a flat part extending flat along the connection direction and formed in an outer periphery face between the lip and the end part, and to provide the JP ‘605 seal member with a flat part thus would have been obvious, for better deformation and sealing.
Regarding claim 3, JP ‘605 (as modified by Suzuki et al) discloses the flat part extends from and is connected to each of the lip and the end part.
Regarding claim 4, JP ‘605 (as modified by Suzuki et al) discloses the lip has a first width in the connection direction, and the flat part has a second width in the connection direction, the second width is predetermined relative to the first width.
Regarding claim 5, JP ‘605 (as modified by Suzuki et al) discloses the abutting part is spaced away from the fitting part by a clearance space, and the seal member includes a first extension part that protrudes from the end part in the connection direction, extends into the clearance space, and is spaced away from the flat part.
Regarding claim 6, JP ‘605 (as modified by Suzuki et al) discloses the abutting part includes a tapered face, and at least a portion of the flat part is configured to be deformed by the tapered face if the fitting part is inserted into the fitting hole.
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2022-32605 in view of Suzuki et al as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kraska et al 4010760.
Kraska et al (see the claims thereof) discloses anodization as a surface treatment for anti-rusting, and to provide JP ‘605 with anodization thus would have been obvious, to prevent corrosion.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims 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.
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/GARY F PAUMEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834