Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/875,171

WIRING HARNESS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Dec 16, 2024
Priority
Jun 21, 2022 — JP 2022-099594 +1 more
Examiner
NGUYEN, CHAU N
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
68%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
9m
Est. Remaining
82%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 68% — above average
68%
Career Allowance Rate
1054 granted / 1550 resolved
+8.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+14.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
64 currently pending
Career history
1606
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§103
51.8%
+11.8% vs TC avg
§102
23.0%
-17.0% vs TC avg
§112
18.8%
-21.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1550 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 Objections Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 1, last two lines, “if” should be changed to -- and --. Appropriate correction is required. 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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujishita et al. (JP H10199352) in view of Lee et al. (2025/0095881). Fujishita et al. (1A-1D) discloses a wiring harness to be installed in an installation target including a fixed portion, the fixed portion being a vehicle body (1), and an opening/closing body to be opened and closed with respect to the fixed portion between a fully open position (Fig. 1D) and a fully closed position (Fig. 1B), comprising: a grommet (31) to be arranged between the fixed portion and the opening/closing body; and a wire member passed through the grommet (not shown), the grommet having a fixed-side end part (34) to be fixed to the fixed portion and a movable-side end part (35) to be fixed to the opening/closing body, the wire member being routed between the fixed portion and the opening/closing body while being passed through inside of the grommet, and the grommet holding the wire member such that a twist angle of the wire member when the opening/closing body is at a middle position between the fully open position and the fully closed position is 0° and the twist angle when the opening/closing body is at the fully closed position (Fig. 1B) is a negative value (with respect to Fig. 1C) and the twist angle when the opening/closing body is at the fully open position (Fig. 1D) is a positive value (with respect to Fig. 1C) (re-claim 1). Fujishita et al. does not disclose the wire member including an LVDS cable having a metal braided member (re-claim 1). Lee et al. discloses a wire member for vehicle, including an LVDS cable (Fig. 1) having a metal braided member (33). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to use the wire member as taught by Lee et al. in the wiring harness of Fujishita et al. since such wire member has improved mechanical and electrical properties ([0011]). Re-claim 2, Fujishita et al. discloses an absolute value of the twist angle when the opening/closing body is at the fully open position and an absolute value of the twist angle when the opening/closing body is at the fully closed position being equal ([0013] of the machine translation). Re-claim 3, Fujishita et al. discloses the middle position being a center position between the fully open position and the fully closed position. Re-claim 4, Fujishita et al. discloses that if a straight line connecting a center of the movable-side end part and a center of the fixed-side end part when the opening/closing body is at the fully open position is a first virtual straight line; a straight line connecting the center of the movable-side end part and the center of the fixed-side end part when the opening/closing body is at the fully closed position is a second virtual straight line; and a straight line connecting the center of the movable-side end part and the center of the fixed-side end part when the opening/closing body is at the middle position is a third virtual straight line, the third virtual straight line is set at a position bisecting an angle between the first and second virtual straight lines (Figs 1B-1D). Re-claim 5, Fujishita et al. discloses the opening/closing body being a back door of the vehicle. Contact Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHAU N NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1980. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th, 7am to 5:30pm. 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, Imani N Hayman can be reached at 571-270-5528. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /CHAU N NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 16, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 03, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12749597
SEMICONDUCTIVE TAPES AND METHODS FOR MAKING THE SAME
2y 11m to grant Granted Sep 29, 2026
Patent 12744136
PRECURSOR WIRE FOR COMPOUND SUPERCONDUCTING WIRE, COMPOUND SUPERCONDUCTING WIRE, AND REWINDING METHOD FOR COMPOUND SUPERCONDUCTING WIRE
2y 7m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
Patent 12736179
LUBRICATED CABLE WITH REDUCED COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION
2y 11m to grant Granted Sep 15, 2026
Patent 12725720
CONDUCTOR MEMBER WITH COOLING STRUCTURE
1y 11m to grant Granted Sep 01, 2026
Patent 12718968
SEMICONDUCTIVE POLYMER COMPOSITION
2y 11m to grant Granted Aug 25, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
68%
Grant Probability
82%
With Interview (+14.1%)
2y 7m (~9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1550 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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