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 .
DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
This is the first Office Action on the merits of Application 18/839,812 filed on 8/20/24. Claims 1-10 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/20/24 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1
Line 2: “receiving at an” should be amended as -- receiving an --.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-4, 8 & 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent 8,480,142 to Wuerfel.
Claim 1
Wuerfel discloses in Figs 1-13,
A support component for integration into an apron of a motor vehicle (e.g. front end of vehicle), comprising: a support body (e.g. 16) for receiving at an electrical functional unit, the electrical functional unit comprising sensor (e.g. 2) or a lighting component, wherein the support body is configured as a planar component (see Fig 4) and comprises a fiber reinforced plastic (Column 1, lines 21-35) that is based on a sheet molding compound.
Claim 2
The support component of claim 1, wherein the support component comprises at least one receiving opening (e.g. 11) for the electrical functional unit, wherein an associated receiving means (e.g. 12, Fig 12) for fastening the electrical functional unit is molded onto or attached to the support body.
Claim 3
The support component of claim 1, wherein the support component is provided as a visible component (e.g. outer surface of bumper, see Fig 2) of the motor vehicle and has a decorative surface (e.g. 15) that is visible to a person looking at the motor vehicle.
Claim 4
The support component of claim 3, wherein the decorative surface is formed at least in sections (Fig 3, multiple sections of 15 & 16) by a surface of the support body.
Claim 8
The support component of claim 1, further including fasteners (e.g. 17 & 18) that are attached to the support body for fastening the support component to the motor vehicle.
Claim 10
An assembly unit (see Fig 2) for integration into an apron of a motor vehicle, the assembly unit comprising the support component of claim 1, wherein the electrical functional unit is received on the support body of the support component.
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.
Claims 5-7 & 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent 8,480,142 to Wuerfel.
Claim 5
Wuerfel teaches a planar support component with a support body which receives an electrical function unit. Where the support component has a decorative surface which is formed at least in sections by a surface of the support body. Wuerfel however does not explicitly disclose that decorative surface has decorative coating or decorative foil. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the claims were effectively filed choose the decorative surface to have decorative coating or decorative foil, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Claim 6
Wuerfel does not explicitly disclose that the decorative surface is formed by thermoplastic decorative component. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the claims were effectively filed choose the decorative surface to be formed by a thermoplastic decorative component, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Claim 7
Wuerfel does not explicitly disclose that the decorative surface is formed by sections by a metallic decorative component. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the claims were effectively filed choose the decorative surface to have a metallic decorative component, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Claim 9
Wuerfel discloses fasteners (e.g. 17 & 18) but does not explicitly disclose that the fasteners include metallic fastening components. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the claims were effectively filed choose the fasteners to have metallic fastening components, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Conclusion
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/HUAN LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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