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.
Claims 1-11, 13, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwabuchi (US 20190047331).
Regarding claim 1, Iwabuchi discloses a tire comprising:
a pattern region on an outer surface of a sidewall of the tire, the pattern region being visually recognizable as being different from a region other than the pattern region in the outer surface of the tire (see tire 10 with mark portion 14 on sidewall, Fig. 1; [0028-0030]); and
a plurality of character protrusions separate from each other in the pattern region (see ridges in 32 in Figs. 3, 5),
wherein the character protrusions each imitate a character or a rotated or inverted character (see Figs. 3, 5 wherein the protrusions imitate an "S" or "5"), and
wherein regions, each of which having a shape of a parallelogram circumscribed to a contour of a respective one of the character protrusions and is set to have a minimum area, are defined as character protrusion regions, and the character protrusion regions of adjacent ones of the character protrusions partially overlap with each other (the ridges can be circumscribed with parallelograms and these regions would overlap with adjacent regions due to the ends of ridges lying within bends of adjacent ridges, see Fig. 3, 5; [0039]);
wherein each character protrusion comprises a language character or a numeral (the protrusions imitate an "S" or "5".
Iwabuchi does not expressly disclose the longitudinal and transverse dimensions of the character protrusion. Iwabuchi does disclose a pitch between adjacent ridges of 0.15 to 0.35 mm to suppress light reflection ([0007]). In Figs. 3 and 5, the "S" shaped characters have 4 ridge-to-ridge pitches along their length (in Fig. 3, half the "S" character has a length W1+W3). Examiner notes that this only measures the centerline distance and the full width of the character would be larger since the base of the ridge is wider (see inclined walls of ridges in Fig. 6). When the base step surface 12B is small (Fig. 6), the width of the ridge is slightly less than the pitch P between ridges. Thus, the length of the "S" character is slightly less than 5 ridge pitches (4 ridge-to-ridge pitches plus width of a ridge). Given a pitch of 0.15 to 0.35 mm, this equates to a length slightly less than 0.75 mm to 1.75 mm--this dimension is construed as the transverse width of the character. As to the longitudinal dimension, Iwabuchi clearly illustrates the characters as narrower than the transverse width dimension.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have configured the character protrusions with longitudinal dimension and transverse width dimension as claimed since (1) Iwabuchi discloses "S" shaped characters having lengths of slightly less than 5 pitches and pitch lengths of 0.15 to 0.35 mm ([0007,0040-0041]; construed as the transverse width of the character), which suggests a length of slightly less than 0.75 mm to 1.75 mm, said range overlapping the claimed range; (2) Iwabuchi clearly illustrates the "S" shaped character protrusions having a narrow shape, thus suggesting the opposing longitudinal dimension as less than the transverse width (see Fig. 3, 5); and (3) the character protrusions are disclosed as part of a decorative band pattern on a tire sidewall ([0030]) and a person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to adjust the shape of the "S" shape character based on aesthetic design choice (configure character as narrower or wider depending on desired degree of overlap).
Regarding claim 2, the character protrusions each include a plurality of straight portions, and a connecting portion at which the plurality of straight portions connect to each other ("S" have straight sides that are joined at a bends, Fig. 3).
Regarding claims 3 and 6, the character protrusions each include a plurality of bent portions (see bending points, B1 along with other unlabeled points, Fig. 3).
Regarding claims 4, 7, and 9, the character protrusion regions of adjacent three or more of the character protrusions partially overlap with each other (adjacent regions of the character protrusions overlap with each other, see Fig. 3).
Regarding claims 5, 8, 10, and 11, among the character protrusions, those adjacent to each other and having the character protrusion regions partially overlapping with each other delineate a same character (the same character, an "S" or "5", is delineated).
Regarding claim 13, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have configured the height of the characters as 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm since Iwabuchi discloses the height of the ridges is 0.2 to 0.5 mm ([0007]), said range overlapping the claimed range.
Regarding claim 14, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have configured the minimum distance S between the plurality of character protrusions as 0.1 mm to 0.3 mm since Iwabuchi discloses the pitch between ridges is 0.15 to 0.35 mm ([0007]), said range overlapping the claimed range.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of record is represented by Iwabuchi (US 20190047331) and Miyasaka (US2018/0141390). Iwabuchi discloses a sidewall pattern having overlapping characters, but fails to further teach or suggest a ratio of the distance (D0) between center lines of adjacent character protrusion in a longitudinal direction to the longitudinal dimension (D) of the character protrusion is 0.5 to 0.9. In Iwabuchi, the characters overlap along the transverse width direction and there is no overlap ratio in the longitudinal direction. Miyasaka discloses overlapping asterisks but fails to further teach or suggest the combination of longitudinal dimension and transverse width dimension of claim 1. Examiner notes that Miyasaka discloses that if the pitch spacing P between asterisks exceeds 1.0 mm, the asterisks are not arranged densely which detracts from the enhancement in visibility ([0089]; asterisks dimensions would need to be less than pitch spacing).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-11 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant argues that the claimed dimensions provide enhanced visual effect and these unexpected results reinforce patentability of the claims.
Examiner disagrees that paragraph [0052] provides evidence on unexpected results. The paragraph states that it is desirable to provide dimensions within the ranges to make the pattern region visually recognizable as being blacker. To establish unexpected results over a claimed range, applicants should compare a sufficient number of tests both inside and outside the claimed range to show the criticality of the claimed range. See MPEP 716.02(d)(II). Applicant has not provided tests inside and outside the claimed ranges to show the criticality of the claimed ranges. Furthermore, it is not unexpected that the ridges provide a visually blacker region. Iwabuchi discloses the sidewall portion as configured to have dark portions that look black due to the ridges ([0030,00033,0060]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Nakamura (JP2016-215704) discloses a tire sidewall pattern having character protrusions to form a contrasting background.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT C DYE whose telephone number is (571)270-7059. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm EST.
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/ROBERT C DYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619