DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
IDS
The IDS document(s) filed on May 13, 2024 and October 8, 2025 have been considered. Copies of the PTO-1449 documents are herewith enclosed with this office action.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. § 112(b)
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.
Claims 1-9, 11-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 112, 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 pre-AIA the applicant, regards as the invention.
As to claims 1 and 7, it is unclear what ‘together’ refers to in “an other plate which is disposed in pair with the one plate and operates together to perform the mold closing” (emphasis added). Does one pair of the other plate operate together with its opposite pair of the other plate or does the pair of the other plate operate together in pair with the one plate?
No Prior Art Applied
The Examiner was unable to find prior art applicable to the claims as presently written.
As to claims 1, 7, and 10, Katon et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0180985 A1), hereafter “Katon”, teaches in FIGS. 1A-1E a sealing mold, comprising an upper mold 9 and a lower mold 10 and processing a workpiece 3 into a molded product by sealing the workpiece with resin, the sealing mold comprising: a cavity plate 7, 7’ which is disposed in at least one of the upper mold and the lower mold, and a pushing pin 4. However, Katon does not teach inter alia a chase block, one plate of a top plate and a bottom plate, an other plate, and a support plate
Indication of Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: claim 10 is indicated as being allowable. Prior art fails to teach the above limitations of claim 10, and in addition, the resin sealing method limitations.
Conclusion
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/SUBERR L CHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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