DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nakano et al. (US 20150344071 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Nakano et al. discloses “A vehicle side structure (10; Annotated Fig 4), comprising: an A-pillar lower reinforcement (56; Annotated Fig 4) of an A-pillar lower (34; Fig 5); a side member outer (48; Annotated Fig 4) overlapped with an outside of the A-pillar lower reinforcement (56; Annotated Fig 4); a hinge retainer (54; Annotated Fig 4) attached to an inside of the A-pillar lower reinforcement (56; Annotated Fig 4); and a door hinge (40; Annotated Fig 4) attached (62; Annotated Fig 4) to an outside of the hinge retainer, wherein the hinge retainer includes a front standing wall portion (54B; Annotated Fig 4) overlapped with an inner surface of a front wall portion of the A-pillar lower reinforcement (56B; Annotated Fig 4), a side standing wall portion (54A; Annotated Fig 4) integrally provided so as to be orthogonal to the front standing wall portion and overlapped with an inner surface of a side wall portion of the A-pillar lower reinforcement (56A; Annotated Fig 4), and a top wall portion (93 as seen in Annotated Fig 4) integrally provided so as to extend from an upper side of the front standing wall portion to an upper side of the side standing wall portion.”
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Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL ROBERT DIGIOVANNANTONIO whose telephone number is (571)272-4526. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amy Weisberg can be reached at 5712705500. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/D.R.D./Examiner, Art Unit 3612
/AMY R WEISBERG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3612