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 Objection
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 16, “potion” should be – portion --. Appropriate correction is required.
35 USC 102 Rejections
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2003-257531.
Regarding claim 1, JP ‘531 (Figures 2 and 4) discloses a connector, comprising: a housing 25 including a terminal accommodation chamber 21; a terminal fitting 10 to be inserted into the terminal accommodation chamber from behind the housing; a locking lance 37 formed in a peripheral wall portion constituting the terminal accommodation chamber, the locking lance retaining the terminal fitting; and an excessive deflection restricting portion 44 for keeping a deflection amount of the locking lance within a certain range when the locking lance is resiliently deformed in a direction separating from the terminal fitting, the locking lance being arranged in a state exposed on an inner peripheral surface and an outer peripheral surface of the peripheral wall portion, the excessive deflection restricting portion being arranged within a thickness range of the peripheral wall portion, the locking lance being shaped such that a narrow portion 34 and a wide portion 32 having a larger width than the narrow portion are connected in a deflection direction of the locking lance, the narrow portion projecting further forward than the wire portion, a part of the wide portion projecting in a width direction from the narrow portion having a function as a contact portion for restricting excessive deflection of the locking lance by butting against the excessive deflection restricting portion, the narrow portion being formed with a jig contact portion 41, and the jig contact portion having a smaller width than the wide portion.
Regarding claim 3, JP ‘531 discloses the wide portion 32 has a function as a locking projection for retaining and locking the terminal fitting 10.
Regarding claim 6, JP ‘531 discloses a sealing ring 45 is arranged at a position separated rearward from a rear end of the locking lance 37 on the outer peripheral surface of the peripheral wall portion.
35 USC 103 Rejection
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) 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2003-257531.
To form the peripheral wall portion of JP ‘531 with a hollow cylindrical shape in a front view of the locking lance would have been an obvious matter of design, since this would not substantially affect the function of the peripheral wall portion.
Claim Defining Over Prior Art
Claim 4 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: none of the prior art discloses or teaches the intervals as recited; in combination with the rest of the subject matter of the independent claim.
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/GARY F PAUMEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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