DETAILED ACTION
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 4-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Suzuki et al. (US 5994645)
Regarding claim 1, Suzuki discloses a door trim constituting a design on an interior side of a vehicle door, comprising a scheduled insertion region (region around 1g, fig 16) where a wire-like transmission member (D.W/h) for an optional component mounted to the vehicle door is to be inserted (fig 16).
Regarding claim 4, Suzuki discloses a vehicle door, comprising: the door trim according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above); a panel (1a) to which the door trim is attached (fig 16); and a door-side weather-strip (2) provided to the panel (fig 16), wherein
the scheduled insertion region is located closer to an interior side than the door--side weather-strip (fig 16).
Regarding claim 5, Suzuki further discloses an arrangement space (space occupied by 110, fig 16) where a redundancy absorption part (110) absorbing a redundant length of the wire-like transmission member occurring in accordance with a close operation of the vehicle door is provided between the door trim and the panel (figs 16-21).
Regarding claim 6, Suzuki further discloses that the redundancy absorption part disposed in the arrangement space (fig 16).
Regarding claim 7, Suzuki further discloses that the redundancy absorption part includes: a winding shaft part (110k) around which the wire-like transmission member is wound (figs 19-21); and a housing part (housing of 110, figs 19-21) housing a winding part around the winding shaft part in the wire-like transmission member, wherein a diameter of the winding part is changed in accordance with opening and closing of the vehicle door in the housing part (figs 16-21, col 15 lines 40-54).
Regarding claim 8, Suzuki further discloses a removal part (112) removing water adhering to a part of the wire-like transmission member between the scheduled insertion region and the redundancy absorption part (fig 21).
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.
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. (US 5994645) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Brose (DE202010007548U1)
Regarding claim 2, Suzuki further discloses that the scheduled insertion region includes: an insertion port (1g) into which the wire-like transmission member is inserted (figs 16);
Suzuki is silent regarding a cover member covering the insertion port.
Brose teaches a cover member (31) covering the insertion port (fig 1)
Before the effective filling date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Suzuki and Brose before him or her, to modify the apparatus/method disclosed by Suzuki to include the cover member as taught by Brose in order to provide moisture-tight guidance of the cable harness (claim 13)
Regarding claim 3, Suzuki further discloses that the insertion port is a notched part (1g) reaching an edge of the door trim (fig 16).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-10 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: The closest prior art to record is Suzuki et al. (US 5994645).
Regarding claim 9, Suzuki discloses A routing structure, comprising: a first wire-like transmission member for an optional component mounted to the vehicle door to be routed between the vehicle door according to claim 4 and a vehicle body to which the vehicle door is openably and closably attached and inserted into the scheduled insertion region (area around 1g, fig 16) of the door trim of the vehicle door (figs 16-21); and a second wire-like transmission member (DW/H) for a standard-mounted component mounted to the vehicle door to be routed between the vehicle door and the vehicle body (fig 16-21), wherein the vehicle door includes a door-side weather-strip (2) provided to the panel (figs 16-21), , a part of the first wire-like transmission member between the vehicle door and the vehicle body is routed closer to an interior side than the door-side weather-strip (figs 16-21), and a part of the second wire-like transmission member between the vehicle door and the vehicle body is routed closer to an exterior side than the door-side weather-strip (figs 16-21).
Suzuki is silent regarding the fact that the vehicle body includes a vehicle body-side weather-strip, a part of the first wire-like transmission member between the vehicle door and the vehicle body is routed closer to an interior side than the door-side weather-strip and the vehicle body-side weather-strip and a part of the second wire-like transmission member between the vehicle door and the vehicle body is routed closer to an exterior side than the door-side weather-strip and the vehicle body-side weather-strip as specifically called for in the claimed combination.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANY E AKAKPO whose telephone number is (469)295-9255. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm.
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/DANY E AKAKPO/Examiner, Art Unit 3672
06/05/2026
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