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 .
1) 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.
2) 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.
3) Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Great Britain 509 (GB 2,150,509) in view of Iwasaki et al (US 6,336,486), Great Britain 952 (GB 1,255,952) or Tanaka et al (US 5,810,953).
Great Britain 509 discloses a pneumatic passenger tire (passenger size 205/60R15) having a cap rubber 9 and a base rubber 10 which is composed entirely of rubber having the same composition [FIGURE 1]. The tread comprises ribs 14 (land portions) separated by main grooves 13 [FIGURE 1]. Modulus of the cap rubber is 70 to 150 kg/cm2 (6.9 to 14.7 MPa) at 25 degrees C. Modulus of the base rubber is 100 to 250 kg/cm2 (9.8 to 24.5 MPa) at 25 degrees C. Modulus of the base rubber is greater than or equal to 1.15 times modulus of cap rubber. Preferably, modulus of the base rubber is 1.25 to 2.0 times modulus of the cap rubber. The average thickness of the base rubber is 15 to 35% of the average thickness of the cap rubber. In other words, the average thickness of the base rubber is 13 to 26% of the thickness of the tread. For example, the avarage thickness of the base rubber is 2.0 mm and the average thickness of the cap rubber is 8.0 mm; the average thickness of the base rubber thereby being 20% of the thickness of the tread. The passenger tire gives improved steering response during high speed running. Great Britain 509 substantially discloses the claimed invention except for the tire direction width of the base rubber being shorter than the tire width direction width of the cap rubber.
As to claims 1 and 3, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Great Britain 509’s pneumatic tire such that the cap rubber is positioned on the tire radial direction outer side with respect to the base rubber and is also positioned on both tire width direction outer sides with respect to the base rubber and such that the tire direction width of the base rubber is shorter than the tire width direction width of the cap rubber [claim 1], the tire width direction width of the base rubber is 40% to 70% of the ground contact width [claim 3] since (1) Iwasaki et al teaches that it is known in the tire art to provide a pneumatic tire (passenger size 205/55R16) having a tread comprising a cap rubber 2 and a base rubber 3 such that the width of the base rubber 3 is shorter than the width of the cap rubber 2 [FIGURE 1] wherein degradation of wet performance is controlled from middle worn stage to last worn stage, (2) Great Britain 952 teaches that it is known in the tire art to provide a pneumatic tire having a tread comprising an outer rubber 3 and an inner rubber 4 such that the width of the inner rubber 4 is shorter than the width of the outer rubber 3 [FIGURES 1, 3, 5] wherein the inner rubber layer 4 has higher braking coefficient than that of the outer rubber 3 or (3) Tanaka et al teaches that it is known in the tire art to provide a pneumatic tire (passenger size 205/55R15) having a tread comprising a cap rubber 31 and a base rubber 30 such that the width of the base rubber 30 is shorter than the width of the cap rubber 31 [FIGURES 1, 18] wherein width CW of the base rubber 30 is 40 to 55% tread width and wherein tan delta at 70 degrees C of the base rubber is lower than tan delta at 70 degrees C of the cap rubber to control heat generation of the central part of the tread so as to increase high speed durability [col. 5 lines 66-67, col. 6 lines 1-2, col. 7 lines 33-48, col. 9 lines 39-44].
As to claim 2, Great Britain 509 teaches modulus of the base rubber is 2.0 times modulus of the cap rubber.
As to claim 4, Great Britain 509 teaches an average thickness ratio of 20%.
Remarks
4) The remaining references are of interest.
5) No claim is allowed.
6) Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN D MAKI whose telephone number is (571)272-1221. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30AM-6PM.
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/STEVEN D MAKI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749
July 25, 2026
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