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 .
Drawings
The drawings were received on 12/2/25. These drawings are acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mamiya et al. (2020/0153162) in view of Nagasawa (2017/0077636).
With regard to claim 1, Mamiya teaches, as shown in figures 1-7: “A connector M comprising: a terminal 28; a housing 10 having a terminal accommodating chamber 14 in which the terminal 28 is accommodated… and a side retainer 48 attached to… the housing… wherein the terminal accommodating chamber 14 is provided with an elastically deformable locking lance 18 extending in an insertion direction (right-to-left in figure 7) of the terminal 28 into the terminal accommodating chamber 14 such that the locking lance 18 is to be locked to the terminal 28, a distal end portion (left end of 18 in figure7) of the locking lance 18 in the insertion direction is provided with a jig hooking portion (portion engaged with 54 in figure 7) to come into contact with a jig 54 inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 14 when releasing locking with the terminal 28, and the side retainer 48 is provided with a guide portion 40 configured to guide the jig 54 such that the jig 54 comes into contact with the jig hooking portion and does not interfere with the terminal 28 when being inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 14”.
Mamiya does not teach the housing “further comprising a housing body and a hood portion which covers an outer peripheral surface of the housing body with a space provided therebetween, a front end portion of the housing body protruding forward from a front end surface of the hood portion; a seal member attached to the outer peripheral surface of the housing body covered by the hood portion” or the side retainer attached to a front end portion of the housing body.
In the same field of endeavor before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, Nagasawa teaches, as shown in figures 1-4: “further comprising a housing body 11 and a hood portion 13 which covers an outer peripheral surface of the housing body 11 with a space provided therebetween, a front end portion (portion of 11 protruding leftward of 13 in figure 3) of the housing body 11 protruding forward from a front end surface of the hood portion 13; a seal member 20 attached to the outer peripheral surface of the housing body 11 covered by the hood portion 13” and the side retainer 50 attached to a front end portion of the housing body 11. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the features of Nagasawa with the invention of Mamiya in order to form a liquid-tight seal with the mating connector (Nagasawa, paragraph 58).
With regard to claim 2, Mamiya as modified by Nagasawa teaches: “The connector according to claim 1”, as shown above.
Mamiya does not teach: “wherein the guide portion is formed in an inclined shape to guide the jig between the terminal and the jig hooking portion”. However, Mamiya teaches an inclined shape on the jig (top of right end of 54 in figure 7) that guides the jig between the terminal (28 in figure 7) and the jig hook portion (portion engaged with 54 in figure 7). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the claimed invention to reverse the parts of Mamiya so there is an inclined guiding portion on the side retainer in order to guide the tool to unlock the locking lance, as shown in figure 7). Also, it has been held that a mere reversal of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. In re Gazda, 219 F.2d 449, 104 USPQ 400 (CCPA 1955).
With regard to claim 3, Mamiya as modified by Nagasawa teaches: “…the connector according to claim 1”, as shown above.
Mamiya also teaches, as shown in figures 1-7: “ “A terminal extracting method in a connector M including… and a jig 54, the terminal extracting method in a connector comprising: inserting the jig 54 into the terminal accommodating chamber 14 in a state of being in contact with the guide portion 40 such that the jig 54 comes into contact with the jig hooking portion; and operating the jig 54 such that the locking lance 18 is elastically deformed to release locking between the terminal 28 and the locking lance 18”.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to 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 JUSTIN M KRATT whose telephone number is (571)270-0277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abdullah A Riyami can be reached at (571)270-3119. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUSTIN M KRATT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831