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
Claims 11-15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/11/2026. While, Applicant has stated that the election was made with traverse, the election is being treated as being made without traverse since no substantive arguments have been submitted arguing as to why the restriction was inappropriate.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the fender cover being a wheel well which is positioned over at least a front wheel assembly of the vehicle (as recited in claim 10) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to because, in Fig. 1A, the Section XX does not appear to match the view indicated in the enlarged detail. For example, the hood frame appears to be on the wrong side of the Section XX drawing with respect to where the XX view is shown in the enlarged detail.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claim 2, Applicant recites that the garnish gasket includes an L shaped portion (which appears to refer to structure 108C as shown in Fig. 1B of Applicant’s drawings. However, structure 108C appears to be J shaped rather than L shaped. Thus, it is unclear what is actually required by the claim.
Claim 17 has a similar problem.
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, 3, 6, and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kinoshita et al. (US 2007/0296238).
With respect to claim 1, Kinoshita et al. discloses a mounting structure for a vehicle, comprising:
a garnish gasket 28d having a first side coupled with a body panel 17 of the vehicle (Kinoshita et al., paragraph [0030]; Fig. 5); and
a first pillar garnish 28a/28c disposed on a second side of the garnish gasket 28d,
wherein a first portion 28a of the first pillar garnish is capable of meeting up with a cowl of the vehicle, and the cowl is configured to mount a fender cover such that a gap is formed between the fender cover and a hood frame of the vehicle (note, this wherein clause is considered a statement of intended use, and not required by the claim, since Applicant has not positively recited the cowl, the fender cover, or the hood as part of the claimed subject matter).
With respect to claim 3, Kinoshita et al. disclose that the garnish gasket is disposed on an A pillar of the vehicle (“front pillar,” Kinoshita et al., paragraph [0030]; Fig. 5).
With respect to claim 6, Kinoshita et al. discloses that the body panel is disposed on at least lateral sides of the vehicle (as shown in Figs. 5-6 of Kinoshita et al.).
With respect to claims 8-10, Applicant only further limits structure of non-claimed subject matter. Therefore, these claims are rejected along with their parent claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinoshita et al. (US 2007/0296238).
With respect to claim 5, Kinoshita et al. discloses the claimed mounting structure except for a second pillar garnish is disposed on an A pillar of the vehicle. Kinoshita et al. disclose a first pillar garnish disposed on an A pillar of the vehicle. While Kinoshita et al. only discloses a single first pillar garnish, it has been held that the mere duplication of parts has no patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is produced (see MPEP§ 2144.04, part VI, B). In this instance, there has been no unexpected result disclosed. The provision of a second pillar garnish as recited, only provides the same function of the first pillar garnish, i.e. providing a decorative surface to the pillar.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinoshita et al. (US 2007/0296238), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Akizuki et al. (JP 2020-104569).
With respect to claim 7, Kinoshita et al. disclose the claim mounting structure except that they are silent on the first portion being substantially flushed to the cowl. Kinoshita et al. disclose a second portion 28c that is substantially perpendicular to the first portion 28a and disposed on the second side of the garnish gasket (as shown in Fig. 5 of Kinoshita et al.)
Aikizuki et al. teach a similar mounting structure including a first pillar garnish 107 with a first portion that is substantially flushed to a cowl 20 (as shown in Fig. 10 of Akizuki et al.).
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to combine the teaching of Akizuki et al. with the mounting structure disclosed by Kinoshita et al. for the advantage of the cowl top structure which is capable of draining water to the exterior of the vehicle body (Akizuki et al., abstract).
Claims 16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kurata et al. (US 2010/0187862) in view of Kinoshita et al. (US 2007/0296238).
With respect to claim 16, Kurata et al. disclose the claimed method except that they are silent on coupling a first side of a garnish gasket with a body panel of the vehicle and disposing a first pillar garnish on a second side of the garnish gasket Kurata et al. disclose a method of mounting a fender cover 25a on a cowl 1 of a vehicle, the method comprising:
wherein a first portion of the first pillar garnish meets up with the cowl 1 of the vehicle as shown below in the image taken from Fig. 2 of Kurata et al.:
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and mounting the fender cover 25a on the cowl 1, such that a gap is formed between the fender cover 25a and a hood frame 5 of the vehicle (as shown in Fig. 1 of Kurata et al., the fender cover 25a is mounted to cowl 1 and Fig. 1 of Kurata et al. shows a gap between cowl 1 and hood frame 5).
Kinoshita et al. discloses a similar structure including coupling a first side of a garnish gasket 28d with a body panel 17 of a vehicle; and disposing a first pillar garnish 28a on a second side of the garnish gasket 28d.
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to combine the teaching of Kinoshita et al. with the method disclosed by Kurata et al. for the advantage of the manufacturing the first pillar garnish and the garnish gasket as one piece, thus saving assembly time and manufacturing costs of the vehicle.
With respect to claim 19, Kurata et al. discloses that the first portion that is substantially flushed to a cowl 20 (as shown in the above Figure). Kinoshita et al. disclose a second portion 28c that is substantially perpendicular to the first portion 28a and disposed on the second side of the garnish gasket (as shown in Fig. 5 of Kinoshita et al.)
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kurata et al. (US 2010/0187862) in view of Kinoshita et al. (US 2007/0296238), as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Shimosato (JP 2018/193000).
With respect to claim 20, Kurata et al. in view of Kinoshita et al. disclose the claimed method except for the rib features that are provided on a top portion of the clow and is configured to mount the fender cover on the cowl. However, Shimosato teaches a similar method in which rib features that are provided on a bottom portion of a fender cover 6 is configured to mount the fender cover on the cowl 4 (as shown in Fig. 2 of Shimosato). While this is the opposite arrangement of what is claimed (i.e., rib features on a top portion of the cowl), it has been held that reversal of parts is an obvious variation of known structure (In re Gazda, 219 F.2d 449, 104 USPQ 400 (CCPA 1955).
It 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, with a reasonable expectation of success, to combine the teaching of Shimosato with the method disclosed by Kurata et al. in view of Kinoshita et al. for the advantage of the provided holes 13a which allow for aligning the fender cover 6 with the cowl 4 and for the advantage of assembling and removing vehicle components with requiring a tool.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 18 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.
Claim 4 has been indicated as containing allowable subject matter primarily for the garnish gasket being a mechanical seal configured to secure the first pillar garnish with the cowl of the vehicle and a second pillar garnish with the body panel of the vehicle.
Claim 18 has been indicated as containing allowable subject matter primarily for the garnish gasket is a mechanical seal that is configured to secure the first pillar garnish with the cowl of the vehicle and a second pillar garnish with the body panel of the vehicle.
Claims 2 and 17 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 2 has been indicated as containing allowable subject matter primarily for the garnish gasket including an L shaped portion configured to receive a second pillar garnish on the first side of the garnish gasket.
Claim 17 has been indicated as containing allowable subject matter primarily for the garnish gasket including an L shaped portion configured to receive a second pillar garnish on the first side of the garnish gasket.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yamamoto and JP 3702732 are cited to show other examples of a garnish gasket having a first side coupled with a body pane of the vehicle and first pillar garnish disposed on a second side of the garnish gasket.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL J COLILLA whose telephone number is (571)272-2157. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 - 4:00.
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, Amy Weisberg can be reached at 571-270-5500. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Daniel J Colilla/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3612
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