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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Invention II and Species C in the reply filed on 3 August 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that a search burden has not been established. This is not found persuasive because the Examiner correctly presented evidence for a search and/or examination burden in the Requirement for Restriction/Election mailed 3 June 2026. The Examiner notes that the scopes of Inventions I and III have two-way distinctiveness from Invention II and would present a search and/or examination burden due to the different scopes of keywords used in the claims. In regard to the species restriction, the species all represent a different variation on the construction of the non-conductive fastener and would necessarily have at least some overlapping features as they are related as a species. However, the fact remains that the recited species are mutually exclusive in their design as noted by separate figures needed to depict the differences between their construction. It is noted that Applicant cited MPEP § 808.02 to show that the Examiner failed to provide “any classification information for the alleged species,” but it is noted that the cited section is not applicable to species restrictions but rather to restriction of inventions. Thus, providing classification for species in a restriction is not a requirement nor a standard practice of the Office as it is not required by the MPEP.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 1-14 and 17-20 have withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: the word “difficultly” on line 1 of page 2 grammatically incorrect and viewed to be a misspelling of –difficulty--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yanagida et al. (WO 2020241412 with reliance upon the English-language machine translation; hereinafter “Yanagida”).
In regard to claim 15, Yanagida discloses a battery pack (battery module 12), comprising a bus bar assembly (conductive component 54); a first battery array (cells 16 housing 14A); and a second battery array (cells 16 housing 14B), wherein the bus bar assembly includes a bus bar (bus bar 56), and a bus bar cover (insulating case 70 comprised of case body 70A and lid 70B), and wherein, the bus bar electrically coupled the first battery array to the second battery array, and the bus bar is physically coupled to one of the battery arrays via a non-conductive fastener (bolt 84 which has “an insulating coating”; see the second paragraph of page 14 of the translation) which connects the bus bar 56 to the terminal 32 of each the cell 16 in the respective housings 14A,14B, and the non-conductive fastener is configured to be set into the bus bar via an opening (upper surface opening 80) of the bus bar cover. See Figures 1-7 and the abstract and pages 11-14 of the translation.
In regard to claim 16, Yanagida discloses where the opening (upper surface opening 80 is of a first diameter (see Figure 6) and the non-conductive fastener bolt 84) is of a second smaller diameter, such as the diameter of the head portion or screw portion 84 of the bolt which is clearly smaller than the opening 80. See Figure 6.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY C CLEVELAND whose telephone number is (571)270-5041. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:30.
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.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Claire Wang can be reached at (571) 270-1051. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned 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 for information about filing in DOCX format. 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.
/TIMOTHY C CLEVELAND/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1774
Prosecution Insights