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 . 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 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.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because at line 3-4, “into which a joint ball fits and can swivel” should read --configured to receive a joint ball is received and can swivel--, or the like. Given the claim is directed to only the bearing shell, positive limitations directed to structure not a part of the bearing shell itself should be avoided. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1-3 and 5-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 8,616,800 (Abe) in view of US 2019/0186035 (Haghdoost).
Regarding claim 1, Abe discloses a bearing shell (16) for a ball joint (12; see Figure 3), comprising:
a shell component (16) made of a first material (see column 4, lines 41-43), such that the shell component defines a ball segment shaped receiving space (formed at 16a) into which a joint ball (22) fits and can swivel (see column 4, lines 19-67); and
an inside (16a) of the shell component is coated with a second material (C) which forms a low-friction layer (see Figure 3).
Abe does not expressly disclose the second material comprises parylene, and instead discloses the use of graphite or other lubricants (see column 9, lines 7-17).
Haghdoost teaches it is a design choice known in the field of coating automotive components (see paragraph [0282]) to choose between graphite and parylene as a coating for said components (see paragraph [0299]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the bearing shell of Abe such that the second material comprises parylene, as Haghdoost teaches it is a design choice known in the field of coating automotive components to choose between graphite and parylene as a coating for said components.
Regarding claim 2, Haghdoost teaches the parylene wherein the low-friction layer has a thickness of less than 30 µm (see paragraph [0014]).
Regarding claim 3, Haghdoost teaches the parylene low-friction layer has a thickness of less than 5 µm (see paragraph [0014]).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Abe and Haghdoost teaches the low-friction layer (C of Abe) is applied onto the inside (16a of Haghdoost) of the shell component (16 of Haghdoost) by means of a chemical gas-phase deposition process (see paragraph [0305] of Haghdoost), and/or the shell component is coated completely (see Figure 3 of Abe where the coating is uniformly distributed along an entire inner surface of the shell component) with the second material parylene (parylene taught by Haghdoost).
Regarding claim 6, Abe teaches the first material from which the shell component (16) is made is a thermoplastic plastic (see column 4, lines 41-43).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Abe and Haghdoost teaches a ball joint (12 of Abe) comprising:
the bearing shell (16 of Abe) according to Claim 1;
an inner joint portion (17, 22 of Abe) including a joint ball (22 of Abe), wherein the joint ball is fitted into and can swivel in the receiving space (at 16a of Abe) of the bearing shell (see column 4, lines 19-67 of Abe); and
a surface of the joint ball (22 of Abe) is at least partially in contact with the parylene (taught by Haghdoost) low-friction layer (C; see Figure 3 of Abe).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Abe and Haghdoost teaches a lubricant (G) between at least part of the surface of the joint ball (22 of Abe) and the parylene (taught by Haghdoost) low-friction layer (C of Abe), whereby hydrodynamic sliding friction and/or mixed friction takes place between the joint ball and the bearing shell (16; see column 4, lines 56-62 of Abe).
Regarding claim 9, Abe teaches a chassis component (1; see Figures 2 and 3) comprising:
the ball joint (12) according to Claim 7 (see rejection above),
a chassis component (1) with a joint housing (15), wherein the bearing shell (16) is fixed in the joint housing (see Figure 3); and
wherein the inner portion of the joint comprises at least one joint pin (17) which extends out of the bearing shell and the joint housing (see Figure 3).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Abe and Haghdoost teaches a method for producing the bearing shell (16) in Claim 1 (see rejection above), wherein the parylene (taught by Haghdoost) of the low-friction layer (C of Abe) is applied onto the inside (16a of Abe) of the shell component (16 of Abe) by means of a chemical gas-phase deposition process (see paragraph [0305] of Haghdoost).
Regarding claim 11, Haghdoost teaches the low-friction layer has a thickness of less than 20 µm (see paragraph [0014]).
Regarding claim 12, Haghdoost teaches the low-friction layer has a thickness of less than 10 µm (see paragraph [0014]).
Regarding claim 13, Abe teaches the thermoplastic is a POM (polyoxymethylene) plastic (see column 4, lines 41-43).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Abe and Haghdoost, and further in view of US 7,994,372 (Kumar).
The combination of Abe and Haghdoost teaches the bearing shell according to Claim 1, but does not expressly teach the second material contains fluorinated parylene, wherein in each molecule of parylene one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by fluorine atoms.
Kumar teaches it is known in the art of automotive coatings to provide a second material containing fluorinated parylene, wherein in each molecule of parylene one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by fluorine atoms, depending upon the environment conditions of the intended use environment (see Abstract and column 7, lines 18-54). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the bearing shell of the combination of Abe and Haghdoost such that the parylene is fluorinated, wherein in each molecule of parylene one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by fluorine atoms, as taught in Kumar, as Kumar teaches it is known in the art of automotive coatings to provide a second material containing fluorinated parylene depending upon the environment conditions of the intended use environment.
Conclusion
The prior art set forth in the attached Notice of References Cited (PTO-892) made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Josh Skroupa whose telephone number is (571)270-3220. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amber Anderson can be reached on (571)270-5281. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Josh Skroupa/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3678
August 20, 2026
Prosecution Insights