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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kageyama (US 2013/0273985).
Regarding claim 1, Kageyama discloses a seal structure Fig. 6, comprising: a first member 100; a sealing member 300 having a plate shape; and a second member 200 fastened to the first member with the sealing member interposed therebetween, wherein the first member includes a groove 114 capable of receiving liquid that has entered from outside between the first member and the sealing member; the second member includes another groove 201 for receiving liquid that has entered from outside between the second member and the sealing member and the sealing member covers the opening of the groove and the opening of the another groove. However, Kageyama fails to explicitly disclose the arrangement of the grooves where an opening of the another groove provided in the second member is located at a position that does not overlap with an opening of the groove provided in the first member.
Nevertheless, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to arrange the grooves at an array of different locations in order to scale and otherwise optimize the disclosed structure to achieve its intended use in a particular environment of intended use benefitting from same wherein arrangement of grooves to intended use is well known in the art and would not otherwise affect function of the invention and since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japiske, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENE G BYRD whose telephone number is (571)270-1824. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm.
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/EUGENE G BYRD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675