Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/853,578

WIRE HARNESS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Oct 02, 2024
Priority
Apr 08, 2022 — JP 2022-064436 +1 more
Examiner
ROBINSON, KRYSTAL
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1m
Est. Remaining
81%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allowance Rate
668 granted / 773 resolved
+26.4% vs TC avg
Minimal -6% lift
Without
With
+-5.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
1y 11m
Avg Prosecution
24 currently pending
Career history
795
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.3%
-39.7% vs TC avg
§103
69.3%
+29.3% vs TC avg
§102
20.2%
-19.8% vs TC avg
§112
3.5%
-36.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 773 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
CTNF 18/853,578 CTNF 90692 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Priority 02-26 AIA Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. This application is a 371 of PCT/JP2023/011730 filed on March 24, 2023. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 2, 2025 and August 20, 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Omori (JP 2015/136204) . In regards to claim 1 , Omori teaches a wire harness (10c), comprising: a plurality of wirings (12); a base member (30c) keeping the plurality of wirings (12) in a flat state (see figure 2); and a metal foil (shield layer (40)) positioned on the base member (30c) and covering a target wiring (each wiring in figure 2 is covered by the shield (40)) in the plurality of wirings (12). In regards to claim 2 , Omori teaches the wire harness according to claim 1, wherein the base member (30c) is a protector (protector (30)) including a body (36c) in which a groove (see grooved formed by partitions (36a)) housing the target wiring (12) is formed and a cover (32) covering the target wiring (12) from a side opposite to the body (36c), and the metal foil (40) is provided between the body (36c) and the target wiring (12) and between the cover (32) than the target wiring (12) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. 07-20-02-aia AIA This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Omori (JP 2015/136204) in view of Takamatsu et al. (US 2019/0372321) . In regards to claim 4 , Omori teaches the wire harness according to claim 1,wherein an apparatus connector (550; left device connectors) connected to a connector (right connectors 550) of an electrical apparatus and a first harness connector and a second harness connector (530a, b) to which connectors (550) of counterpart wire harnesses are connected, respectively, are provided, the plurality of wirings (12) include a plurality of apparatus wirings (12, see figure 11) branched from the apparatus connector (550) to be connected to the first harness connector and the second harness connector (530a, b), and the target wiring (12). Omori does not explicitly teach the wires being signal wires. Takamatsu et al. teaches wires in a wiring harness (1) with connectors being signal wires (paragraph [0064]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to have included the signal wires of Takamatsu et al. in the wire harness of Omori to allow communication between the connector and devices . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim 3 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. Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ide et al. (US 2003/0213610) teaches a flat wire harness with a shield; Wakabayashi et al. (US 2016/0366796) teaches w protector for a wire harness with a foil film; Yanazawa et al. (US 2017/0338004) teaches flat conductive wire path . Communication Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KRYSTAL ROBINSON whose telephone number is (571)272-9258. The examiner can normally be reached on 9-5 M-F. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy Dole can be reached on (571)-272-2229. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /KRYSTAL ROBINSON/Examiner, Art Unit 2848 Application/Control Number: 18/853,578 Page 2 Art Unit: 2847 Application/Control Number: 18/853,578 Page 3 Art Unit: 2847 Application/Control Number: 18/853,578 Page 4 Art Unit: 2847 Application/Control Number: 18/853,578 Page 5 Art Unit: 2847
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 02, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12677371
SUBSTRATE STRUCTURE CONNECTED ON BASIS OF SOLDER BALL AND ELASTIC BODY
2y 6m to grant Granted Jul 07, 2026
Patent 12676464
MOUNTABLE ELECTRICAL ENCLOSURE WITH CONDUIT PASSTHROUGH
2y 4m to grant Granted Jul 07, 2026
Patent 12671012
Power Supply Facility
2y 4m to grant Granted Jun 30, 2026
Patent 12671016
ELECTRICAL FEEDTHROUGH ASSEMBLY
1y 11m to grant Granted Jun 30, 2026
Patent 12649429
OUTLET BOX
2y 1m to grant Granted Jun 09, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

Strategy Recommendation AI-generated — please review before filing

Get a prosecution strategy drawn from examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Typically takes 5-10 seconds — AI-generated, attorney review required before filing

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
86%
Grant Probability
81%
With Interview (-5.6%)
1y 11m (~1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 773 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month