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 .
DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
This is the first Office Action on the merits of Application 19/001,752 filed on 12/26/24. Claims 1-7 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/26/24 & 7/15/25 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1 & 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent 9,518,375 to Uchida et al.
Claim 1
Uchida discloses in Figs 1-18,
A working (see Fig 2) vehicle comprising: a bracket (e.g. 175) disposed on a lateral side of an operator seat (e.g. 112, see Fig 17); and a power source socket (e.g. 182) that is supported on the bracket, wherein an insertion port of the power source socket is disposed so as to be directed toward a rear side of the working vehicle (see Fig 17).
Claim 2
The working vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising an armrest (e.g. 179), wherein the armrest is disposed above the bracket (see Fig 17).
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 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent 9,518,375 to Uchida et al. in view of WO 2024004819 to Nishigori et al. (applicant cited reference).
Claim 4
Uchida discloses a working vehicle with a bracket disposed on the lateral side of an operator seat. A power source socket with insertion port facing the rear side of the working vehicle. Uchida however does not explicitly disclose a canopy pole that is disposed upright behind the operator seat; and a mounting seat that is disposed on the canopy pole, wherein an electric equipment is mounted on the mounting seat. Nishigori however, teaches a canopy pole with a mounting seat (e.g. 45) an electric equipment (e.g. 11). Therefore it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the claims were effective filed to modify Uchida to have a canopy pole with electric equipment (e.g. a light), as taught by Nishigori, for the benefit of providing lighting for the operator to be able to see outside of the cabin in low light conditions.
Claim 5
The working vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the mounting seat includes a threaded portion for mounting the electric equipment, and the threaded portion includes a male thread or a female thread (see Fig. 10, the lights are secured via threaded bolts to 63)
Claim 6
The working vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the mounting seat is mounted on the canopy pole by welding. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the claims were effectively filed to weld the mounting seat to the canopy pole as a known method of joining components together.
Claim 7
The working vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the electric equipment is a beacon lamp or a light (e.g. 11).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUAN LE whose telephone number is (571)270-3122. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm PST.
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/HUAN LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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