DETAILED ACTION
This is a first Non-Final Office Action on the merits in response to the application filed 06/06/24. The request for foreign priority to a corresponding JP application filed 12/24/21 has been received and is proper. Claims 5-10 are currently pending. Claims 5-6 and 9-10 are rejected as detailed below. Claims 7-8 contain allowable subject matter. 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 § 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)(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.
Narishima
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Narishima et al. (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2011/0175315). Narishima is directed to a stabilizer bar. See Abstract. Note: this is a “Y” reference in the cited ISA Written Opinion.
Claim 10: Narishima discloses a stabilizer [see Figs. 1, 2A, 8A-9B] comprising: a main body (12) having a tubular shape; a first end (18) provided on one end side of the main body and having a flat plate shape, the first end having an annular shape (16) having a wall thickness equivalent to a wall thickness of the main body [see Figs. 9A, 9B]; and a second end (other 18) provided on another end side of the main body and having a flat plate shape, the second end having an annular shape (other 16) having a wall thickness equivalent to the wall thickness of the main body [see Figs. 9A, 9B], wherein the first end and the second end each include: first and second planar portions having planar shapes and arranged on opposite sides to each other; and third and fourth planar portions arranged on opposite sides to each other and having planar shapes and each positioned at a joining portion of the first and second planar portions [see Figs. 9A, 9B].
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.
Narishima in view of Mamoru
Claim(s) 5-6 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Narishima in view of Mamoru et al. (JP 2007-320343) (cited by Applicant). Mamoru is directed to a hollow stabilizer. See Abstract. Note: this is a “Y” reference in the cited ISA Written Opinion.
Claim 5: Narishima discloses a stabilizer manufacturing method [Figs. 1, 2A, 8A-9B] comprising forming a first end (18) and a second end (other 18) of a stabilizer by processing a tubular member (10) such that each of the first end and the second end has a wall thickness equivalent to a wall thickness of a main body of the stabilizer [see Figs. 9A, 9B], wherein the first end and the second end constitutes both ends of the stabilizer, and the first end and the second end are formed by sandwiching and pressing the ends of the tubular member by pressing members (30, 32, 34) [see Figs. 3A-3C (P1, P2); 8A-8B]. See Figs. 1, 2A, 8A-9B.
Narishima discloses all the limitations of this claim except that the ends are formed by a single pair of pressing members rather than “two pairs of pressing members.” Mamoru discloses a stabilizer manufacturing method, wherein the ends of the tubular member are formed by two pairs of pressing members (8, 9), facing directions of the two pairs of pressing members being different from each other. See Translation (pair of rollers 8, 9 “pushes from both sides”). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to use a pair of pressing members because Narishima already contemplates applying pressing members of the pressing machine (30) on the ends in both top/bottom and left/right sides of the tubular ends of the stabilizer, but does so by rotating the tube and using a single pair of pressing members. The Mamoru method eliminates the need for rotating the tubular member by including an additional pair of pressing members that press in the other/orthogonal plane. This alternative method may permit quicker manufacturing by eliminating the need for rotation of the stabilizer tube.
Claim 6: Mamoru discloses that the two pairs of pressing members simultaneously sandwich and press the first end and the second end. See Translation. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to perform the sandwiching simultaneously because, again, this provides efficiency, permitting quicker manufacturing.
Claim 9: see claim 5 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim (claim 5), but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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VISHAL SAHNI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3657
/VISHAL R SAHNI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616 July 24, 2026
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