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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 1/15/2025, 4/09/2026, &7/31/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the examiner has considered the information disclosure statements.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Johansson (US Patent # 4,874,908).
Regarding Claim 1, Johansson discloses a wire harness (i.e. wiring harness 10) comprising:
a plurality of electric wires (i.e. wires 12, 14, 16, 18 & 20); and
a resin member (i.e. at least two spaced pads 22 & 24 which comprise a molded body made of an easily molded thermoplastic material, such as polypropylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or a polyamide) that has one main body covering the plurality of electric wires and is integrally molded with the plurality of electric wires, wherein
a cross-sectional shape of the main body in a plane orthogonal to an axial direction of the electric wire is a flat shape having a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction, and
the main body has at least one of a first plane that is a plane extending in the longitudinal direction and a second plane that is a plane extending in the lateral direction (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Column 4, line 63- Column 6, line 23).
Regarding Claim 2, Johansson discloses that the cross-sectional shape of the main body is rectangular, and
the plurality of electric wires are disposed along the longitudinal direction inside the main body (Fig. 1-4; Column 5, line 5-43).
Regarding Claim 3, Johansson discloses that in the main body, corner portions on both sides sandwiching one plane have a chamfered shape (Fig. 2, 7, 8; Column 5, line 22-24; Column 6, line 17-23; Column 8, line 23-28 & 62-68).
Regarding Claim 4, Johansson discloses that the resin member has a protrusion protruding from one plane of the main body, and
the protrusion has two parallel surfaces along a protruding direction of the protrusion (Fig. 25-26; Column 10, line 14-54).
Regarding Claim 5, Johansson discloses a plurality of the resin members, wherein
the plurality of electric wires are exposed between adjacent two of the resin members (Fig. 1; Column 4, line 63- Column 5, line 57).
Regarding Claim 6, Johansson discloses that some electric wires of the plurality of electric wires are drawn out as branch wires (i.e. wires 18 & 20 of branch cable 32) from between the adjacent two of the resin members (Fig. 1; Column 5, line 30-57).
Regarding Claim 7, Johansson discloses that cross-sectional shapes of the plurality of the resin members (i.e. at least two spaced pads 22 & 24) in a plane orthogonal to the axial direction of the electric wire are the same (Fig. 1-2). Pads 22 & 24 are shown to have the same shape.
Regarding Claim 8, Johansson discloses that the plurality of electric wires include an electric wire (i.e. wires 12, 14, & 16) of a first sub harness (i.e. main cable 30) and an electric wire (i.e. wires 18 & 20) of a second sub harness (i.e. branch cable 32), and
one resin member (i.e. pad 24) is molded to both the first sub harness and the second sub harness (Fig. 1; Column 5, line 30-57).
Relevant Cited Art
The cited art in PTO-892 was found during the examiner's search, but was not relied upon for this office action. However, it is still considered pertinent to the applicant's disclosure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RHADAMES J ALONZO MILLER whose telephone number is (571)270-7829. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10am-6pm PST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy Thompson can be reached at (571) 272-2342. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RJA/Examiner, Art Unit 2847
/TIMOTHY J THOMPSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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