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
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.
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.
Claim(s) 9, 14-15 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lange et al. (US 2019/0135100).
In re claim 9, Lange teaches an electrically operated motor vehicle (par. 8), comprising: a drive battery (5); left and right torsion struts (50, 51), wherein the drive battery is assembled at a rear drive battery fastening region together with the left torsion strut and the right torsion strut on a left rear side member and a right rear side member (par. 38, fig. 1), respectively, via, in each case, a single screwed connection (fig. 2).
Lange differs in that it does not teach the battery is in a region of an underbody of the motor vehicle. The examiner takes official notice that placing electric batteries under a vehicle body was well known and conventional in the art at the time of invention to one of ordinary skill in the art. As such, the examiner notes that it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to do so with the vehicle of Lange. The examiner notes that the use of torsion struts underneath a vehicle is also known (see, e.g., US 6,206,460; US 7,090,290; US 7,891,728).
In re claim 11, the examiner takes official notice that aluminum casting, steel casting and metal forging were well known and conventional in the art at the time of invention and would have been obvious to use in a vehicle such as Lange.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-13 and 15-18 are 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EREZ GURARI whose telephone number is (571)270-1156. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00AM-6:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marc Jimenez can be reached at (571) 272-4530. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EREZ GURARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615
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