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 § 112
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.
Claims 1-7 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.
Recitation “in a case in which a length of a straight line that connects a boundary portion between one side wall of the two side walls and the top plate and a boundary portion between another side wall and the top plate is taken as a width of the top plate” in claim 1 renders the claim indefinite for being unclear because it is not known what boundary portions being claimed in order to determine a straight line that connects the boundary portions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by DE-10200805627 as recited by applicant.
DE-10200805627 discloses a structural component comprising: a top plate (7-9); and two side walls (2-3) that are arranged facing each other, and that are each continuous with the top plate, wherein the structural component includes a curved region (a middle section as shown in fig. 1) which is curved with the top plate side being an inner side of a curve and an opposite side of the top plate being an outer side of the curve when viewed from a side wall side (see fig. 1), the two side walls (2,3) are connected by the top plate (7-9) on the inner side of the curve in the curved region, and the curved region is opened on the outer side of the curve (see fig. 1), when the curved region is viewed in transverse cross section, in a case in which a length of a straight line that connects a boundary portion between one side wall of the two side walls and the top plate and a boundary portion between another side wall and the top plate is taken as a width of the top plate, the top plate has a maximum width in the curved region (fig. 2 shows a middle section have a maximum width compares to the section on both end sides), the maximum width being larger than the width of the top plate on both end sides (see fig. 2) of the structural component, and when the curved region is viewed in transverse cross section, a sum of lengths of the two side walls is larger than the width of the top plate (see fig. 2); wherein the top plate includes sections that are arranged on both end sides of the structural component, and that have a constant width (fig. 2 shows the top portions on both end sides have constant width); wherein the maximum width is 110% or more and 220% or less of a minimum width of the top plate; when the curved region is viewed in transverse cross section, the two side walls are provided symmetrically with respect to a center of the top plate (see fig. 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the closest prior art as to disclose every element of the invention as discussed above except that a flange that is continuous with at least one of the two side walls on the opposite side of the top plate, and that protrudes from the at least one of the side walls in a direction intersecting the side wall, wherein the flange passes through a bottom portion of the curved region and extends along the curved region on the outer side of the curve.
Conclusion
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/TOAN C TO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3614 June 27, 2026
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