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 .
1) 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.
2) The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
3) Claims 4, 8, 13 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claims 4 and 13, there is no antecedent basis for “the center main grooves” and, as such, the scope of claims 4 and 13 are ambiguous. It is noted that claim 1 describes “at least one center main groove” instead of “center main grooves” [plural].
In claims 8 and 17, there is no antecedent basis for “the center main grooves” and, as such, the scope of claims 8 and 17 are ambiguous. It is noted that claim 1 describes “at least one center main groove” instead of “center main grooves” [plural].
4) 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.
5) Claims 1-8, 10-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kubo et al (US 2016/0075187) in view of Noguchi (US 2022/0258537), Nakamura (US 2004/0123930) or Japan 564 (JP 2015-174564) and in view of Nakagawa (US 2010/0193095) and/or Schiavlin et al (US 2012/0118456) and optionally Makioka et al (US 2013/0014869).
Kubo et al discloses a pneumatic tire for two wheeled vehicle having a tread comprising center slant grooves 1, outer side slant grooves 2 and outer side thin grooves 3. Kubo et al’s FIGURE 1 is reproduced below:
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The center slant grooves are inclined at an angle θ1 = 3-10 degrees with respect to the circumferential direction, the outer side slant grooves are inclined at an angle θ4 wherein angle θ4 > angle θ1, and the outer side thin grooves are inclined at angle θ8 = 45-55 degrees with respect to the circumferential direction. The inner ends of the center slant grooves are spaced from the tire equator so that the center slant grooves do not cross the tire equator [FIGURE 1]. The center slant grooves overlap in the circumferential direction; illustrated overlap being about 20% of length of center slant groove [FIGURE 1]. The center slant grooves have widened portions at end regions thereof and a narrow middle portion; illustrated width narrow portion being about 44% of width of wide portion [FIGURE 1]. Kubo et al teaches that the center slant groove and the outer side slant groove overlap with each other in the tire width direction so that rigidity is uniform in the tire width direction [paragraph 31]. Kubo et al teaches that the outer side thin groove is arranged so that rigidity in the circumferential direction is uniform [paragraph 34]. Kubo et al does not recite that the negative rate (negative ratio) of the tread is 10% or less.
As to claim 1, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Kubo et al’s pneumatic tire for two wheeled vehicle as a motorcycle tire such that:
a negative rate of the entire tread surface portion is 10% or less, and
a ratio Gs/Gc between shear rigidity Gs at a position of 1/4 of a tread width TW
from a tread edge as measured in a tire width direction and shear rigidity Gc at a position of ½ of a tread width TW from a tread edge as measured in a tire width direction, in the tread surface portion, is 95% to 100% [claim 1],
the center main groove is placed not so as to traverse a tire equatorial plane [claim 2],
when a ground contact surface during straight running is defined as a center region and paired regions located outside the center region in a tire width direction are each a shoulder region in the tread surface portion a ratio Nc/Ns between a negative rate Nc of the center region and a negative rate Ns of the shoulder region is 40% to 120% [claims 3, 12],
a distance d between the center main grooves placed by sandwiching a tire equatorial plane corresponds to 1% to 20% of the tread width TW [claims 4, 13],
an angle θ1 of an extending direction to a tire circumferential direction of the center main groove is 0° to 30° [claims 5, 14],
when ends in a tire circumferential direction of the center main groove are connected to provide a line segment and a point at which a perpendicular line to a midpoint of the line segment and an inside groove wall in a tire width direction of the center main groove intersect is defined as X, an angle θ2 between two straight lines connecting the point X and the respective ends in a tire circumferential direction of the center main groove is 0° to 40° [claims 6, 15],
at least one of the center main groove has two or more widened portions in which at least one of an outside groove wall in a tire width direction and an inside groove wall in a tire width direction broadens outside in a groove width direction, and, when a maximum value of groove widths in the widened portions is defined as a maximum groove width W, a minimum groove width W being a minimum value of groove widths of depressed portions formed between the widened portions is 20% to 60% of the maximum groove width W [claims 7, 16],
an overlap length of the center main grooves placed by sandwiching a tire equatorial plane, in a tire circumferential direction, is 10% to 90% of a length Lg of each of the center main grooves in a tire circumferential direction
[claims 8, 17],
the tread surface portion further has a shoulder main groove, and an angle θ3 of an extending direction to a tire circumferential direction of the shoulder main groove is 20° to 60° [claims 10, 19],
the tread surface portion further has a shoulder main groove, and an angle θ3 of an extending direction to a tire circumferential direction of the shoulder main groove is larger than an angle θ1 of an extending direction to a tire circumferential direction of the center main groove [claims 11, 20]
since:
(1) Kubo et al discloses a PNEUMATIC TIRE FOR TWO WHEELED VEHICLE having a tread comprising center slant grooves 1, outer side slant grooves 2 and outer side thin grooves 3 wherein the center slant grooves are inclined at an angle θ1 = 3-10 degrees with respect to the circumferential direction, the outer side slant grooves are inclined at an angle θ4 wherein angle θ4 > angle θ1, the outer side thin grooves are inclined at angle θ8 = 45-55 degrees with respect to the circumferential direction, the inner ends of the center slant grooves are spaced from the tire equator so that the center slant grooves do not cross the tire equator [FIGURE 1], the center slant grooves overlap in the circumferential direction; illustrated overlap being about 20% of length of center slant groove [FIGURE 1], the center slant grooves have widened portions at end regions thereof and a narrow middle portion; illustrated width narrow portion being about 44% of width of wide portion [FIGURE 1] and wherein Kubo et al teaches that the center slant groove and the outer side slant groove overlap with each other in the tire width direction so that rigidity is uniform in the tire width direction [paragraph 31] and that the outer side thin groove is arranged so that rigidity in the circumferential direction is uniform [paragraph 34];
(2) (A) Noguchi teaches providing a PNEUMATIC MOTORCYCLE TIRE having a tread a blet comprising belt cords and a carcass comprising carcass cords such that the belt cords intersect with the carcass cords in a crown region at angle θc and intersect with the carcass cards in the shoulder regions at an angle θs wherein θc > θs and difference θc - θs is 3 to 20 degrees so that difference in shear rigidity between the tread crown region and the tread shoulder regions can be smaller and so that running stability when straight running and turning can improve and handling operations from straight running to turning and from turning to straight running can be smooth, improving stability [FIGURES 1-2, paragraphs 15-21, especially paragraph 21], (B) Nakamura teaches providing a PNEUMATIC MOTORCYCLE TIRE having a tread and a spiral belt and using two different cords (e.g. steel cord and Kevlar cord) for the spiral belt to make the rigidity of the tread uniform to improve performances such as durability and steering stability [FIGURES 1-5, paragraphs 16, 20, 32-37, 39-40, 42-43, 50], or (C) Japan 564 teaches providing a PNEUMATIC MOTORCYCLE TIRE having a tread and band using a combination of distribution of cord density in band and distribution of rubber hardness in tread to obtain uniform rigidity so that riding comfort performance can be improved while maintaining running stability during straight running, traveling stability can be obtained while maintaining high grip performance during turning and transient characteristics can be improved [FIGURES 1-4, machine translation];
(3) (A) (i) Nakagawa teaches providing a PNEUMATIC MOTORCLE TIRE having a tread comprising inclined grooves such that negative ratio (center region) = 6 to 12%, negative ratio (intermediate region) = 3-9% and negative ratio (shoulder region) = 1-7% to obtain desired dry gripping performance and wet drainage performance [FIGURE 2, paragraphs 28-30] and/or (ii) Schiavlin et al’s teaching to provide a PNEUMATIC MOTORCYCLE TIRE having a tread comprising inclined grooves wherein void ratio (negative ratio) of the tread is less than 10% (e.g. 4-10%) and inclined grooves on one side of tread are spaced from inclined grooves on other side of tread by a distance =
5-10% of lateral development of the tread to obtain high draining effectiveness when running on wet ground and good behavior when running on dry ground [FIGURE 3] and optionally (B) with respect to claims 3 and 12, Makioka et al teaches providing a PNEUMATIC MOTORCYCLE TIRE having a tread comprising inclined grooves wherein negative ratios of regions A and B are difference from each other by less than 0.01; the motorcycle tire having improved grip performance while ensuring drainage performance and also attains excellent wear resistance [abstract, FIGURES 1-3, paragraph 11, TABLE 1].
6) Claims 9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kubo et al (US 2016/0075187) in view of Noguchi (US 2022/0258537), Nakamura (US 2004/0123930) or Japan 564 (JP 2015-174564) and in view of Nakagawa (US 2010/0193095) and/or Schiavlin et al (US 2012/0118456) and optionally Makioka et al (US 2013/0014869) as applied above and further in view of Harada (WO 2021/060033).
WO 2021/060033 is available as prior art under 35 USC 102(a)(1).
US 2023/0339269 is an English language equivalent of WO 2021/060033.
As to claims 9 and 18, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Kubo et al’s pneumatic tire such that at least one of the center main grooves has one or more widened portions in which at least one of an outside groove wall in a tire width direction and an inside groove wall in a tire width direction broadens outside in a groove width direction, and a raised portion is provided on a groove bottom of each of the widened portions since Harada teaches providing a PNEUMATIC MOTORCYCLE TIRE having a tread comprising inclined grooves having wide portions and narrow portions such that ridges (raised portions) are providing a widened portions so that better water draining along the groove walls is exhibited [FIGURES 1-6].
Remarks
7) The remaining references are of interest.
8) No claim is allowed.
9) Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN D MAKI whose telephone number is (571)272-1221. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30AM-6PM.
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/STEVEN D MAKI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749
March 28, 2026
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