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 § 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 1-3, 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Souma et al. (US 20110121613 A1).
Re Claim 1, Souma et al. disclose:
A vehicle rear body structure (Abstract) comprising a panel member (as seen annotated in Fig. 6A) that is provided in a vehicle rear body of a vehicle, that serves as a partition between inside and outside of a cabin of the vehicle (as seen in Fig. 6A), and that propagates vibrational energy, wherein the panel member has a first curved surface part (as seen annotated in Fig. 6A) that is smoothly curved surface and that is convex toward outside of a vehicle body of the vehicle.
Re Claim 2, Souma et al. disclose:
the panel member is a rear skirt panel (as seen annotated in Fig. 6A) provided to the vehicle rear body,
the rear skirt panel includes a vertical wall (as seen annotated in Fig. 6A) that is oriented toward a rear of the vehicle body, and
the vertical wall has the first curved surface part (as seen in Fig. 6A).
Re Claim 3, Souma et al. disclose:
wherein the first curved surface part is disposed at a center of the vertical wall (as seen in Fig. 6A) in a vehicle-widthwise direction of the vehicle.
Re Claim 5 and 6, Souma et al. disclose:
wherein a tire storage recess (as seen annotated in Fig. 6A; Para 0033) is formed in the vehicle rear body, and
at least a part of a rear wall of the tire storage recess (as seen annotated in Fig. 6A) is constituted of the vertical wall.
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Figure 6a of Souma et al. (US 20110121613 A1)
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 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Souma et al. (US 20110121613 A1).
Re Claim 4, Souma et al. disclose a vertical wall and a first curved surface that is a smoothly curved surface and that is convex toward outside of the vehicle body of the vehicle (as seen in the rejection above).
However, Souma et al. does not disclose curved surface parts (indicating more than one curved surface part) on the vertical wall.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the vertical wall of the rear skirt panel, as disclosed by Souma et al., such that it would comprise more than one curved surface part to increase the rigidity of the skirt panel as in the claimed invention, since it has been held that a mere duplication of parts has no patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is produced (re Harza 124 USPQ 378).
Re Claim 7, Souma et al. disclose:
wherein a tire storage recess (as seen annotated in Fig. 6A; Para 0033) is formed in the vehicle rear body, and
at least a part of a rear wall of the tire storage recess is constituted of the vertical wall (as seen annotated in Fig. 6A).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited references all disclose a vehicle rear body structure:
Yasuhara et al. (US 8007031 B2) disclose a vehicle rear structure that has circular arc-shaped frame covering a spare tire pan.
Cox et al. (US 7469950 B2) disclose a structural support bracket that is secured to the cargo pan at a center position to protect against deflection and reduces generation of impact boom noises.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASMINE J THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)272-8742. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivek Koppikar can be reached at (571) 272-5109. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JASMINE JAMES THOMAS/ Examiner, Art Unit 3612 September 28, 2026
/JASON S MORROW/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3612
September 29, 2026
