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 § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
In regard to claim 1, Applicant claims a “kinematic system” (line 6) that aids in pulling at least one pulling element arranged on a flexible active element. However, Applicant has failed to describe any sort of details regarding the “kinematic system” in the specification that would convey to one of ordinary skill in the art that Applicant had possession of the claimed invention at filing.
Clarification is respectfully requested.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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, 4, 5, 8, 11 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Moradnia et al. (US 11,673,618).
The Moradnia et al. reference discloses an air guiding device 202 for a motor vehicle body comprising a flexible air guiding element having a frame (see the unnumbered structures proximate reference numerals 260, 259 and 230 in Figure 2) and a flexible active element 206 arranged in an interior of the frame , and a pulling element 204 on which a pulling force can act with the aid of a kinematic system (see col. 5, lines 51 – col. 6, line 2).
In regard to claim 4, see col. 6, lines 57-64.
In regard to claim 5, rigid bar 210 defines the claimed support element.
In regard to claim 8, see Figure 2.
In regard to claims 11 and 12, see vehicle 100 with associate body parts in Figure 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The Bangle et al. and Klatt et al. references pertain to various air guiding systems for vehicles with similarities to that of Applicant’s.
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/STEVEN O DOUGLAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3612