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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) and (a2) as being anticipated by Castillo et al. (hereinafter Castillo, US Publication Number 20180148103).
Regarding claim 1, Castillo discloses a chassis for a side-by-side utility vehicle (Figure 3), the chassis comprising: a front chassis section comprising: a primary tubular assembly defining an upper quadrilateral and a front quadrilateral; and a reinforcing tubular assembly fixed to the primary tubular assembly, the reinforcing tubular assembly having cross braces defining an upper triangle and a lower triangle with a junction therebetween; a rear chassis section; a left chassis section positioned longitudinally between the front chassis section and the rear chassis section; and a right chassis section positioned longitudinally between the front chassis section and the rear chassis section and laterally spaced from the left chassis section (Figure 3, Paragraph 14). Please see the reproduction of Figure 3 below for detailed callouts.
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Regarding claim 2, see figure 3.
Regarding claim 10, see figure 3.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-22 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The prior art of record fails to show alone or in combination the features of a chassis as claimed comprising a front and rear chassis sections as claimed wherein the sections of comprised of front or rear tubes respectively that are welded to one another and a front or rear weldment that formed by a sheet metal components welded to one another as claimed and left and right chassis sections as claimed.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claims 3-9 and 11-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. USPN 20180215415, 12117048 and 11293467 disclose tubular chassis assemblies.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS A MCFALL whose telephone number is (571)270-5769. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7-4.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy Collins can be reached at (571)272-6886. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Nicholas McFall/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3644