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.
Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Komatsu (JPS5168130U; previously cited by Applicant).
Regarding claim 1, Komatsu discloses a damping assembly for a drive sprocket (Figs. 3 and 4) of a mobile industrial machine, the damping assembly comprising: at least one arc-shaped damping pad 7 formed of an elastomeric material (paragraph [0002]) and including: a radially outer surface (radially outer surface of 7a shown in Figs. 3 and 4); a radially inner surface (radially inner surface of 7b shown in Figs. 3 and 4); a planar inner surface (“left” vertical surface of 7b shown in Fig. 3) extending between the radially outer surface and the radially inner surface; a planar outer surface (“right” vertical surface of 7b shown in Fig. 3) extending between the radially outer surface and the radially inner surface; and a plurality of through holes 4 extending through the elastomeric material from the planar inner surface to the planar outer surface, and normal to the planar inner surface and the planar outer surface (Figs. 3 and 4).
Regarding claim 3, Komatsu further discloses the plurality of through holes are all located on a radially lower half of the at least one arc-shaped damping pad (Figs. 3 and 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-20 are allowed.
Claims 2 and 4-9 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to independent claim 1 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.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIP T KOTTER whose telephone number is (571)272-7953. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30-6 EST Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Samuel (Joe) J Morano can be reached at (571)272-6684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Kip T Kotter/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615
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