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 .
Double Patenting
Claim 1 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over anyone of claims 1, 8 and 9 U.S. Patent No. 12,245,592. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claim 1 of the subject application is strictly broader than any one of claims 8, and 9 of the patent.
Distinguishing claim 1
As to claim 1, the prior art did not teach the combination of “formed by bending” (italics added, line 6) in combination with remaining claim limitations. The metal component is structurally defined by the quoted limitation passage, as being the result of the act of bending (where the act of bending causes tension on one surface of the element, and compression on the opposite surface of the same element), necessarily resulting in the claimed metal component being limited as having rounded/curved internal and external corner portions, along with each portion retaining different plastically strained material as a result of such bending . Such particularly claimed structure is patentably distinct from a molded element having an identical shaped because such mold lacks plastic strained portions (regardless of any rounding/curving). The benefit on Para 105 (Publication) was noted.
Conclusion
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/ROBERT R RAEVIS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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