DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Claim 14 is allowable. The restriction requirement among species, as set forth in the Office action mailed on 4/23/2026, has been reconsidered in view of the allowability of claims to the elected invention pursuant to MPEP § 821.04(a). The restriction requirement is hereby withdrawn as to any claim that requires all the limitations of an allowable claim. Claim 26 is no longer withdrawn from consideration because the claim(s) requires all the limitations of an allowable claim.
In view of the above noted withdrawal of the restriction requirement, applicant is advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application.
Once a restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
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 33−34 are rejected under 35 USC §102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Pre-Grant Publication No. 2013/0264428 to Rouyre.
Regarding claim 33, Rouyre teaches an aircraft comprising:
a fuselage 30a;
a wing 40a having a first end (see numbered circles for first through sixthe ends on annotated fig. 4 below) coupled to the fuselage and a second end opposite the first end extending from the fuselage;
a pylon (identified with dashed line in annotated fig. 4 below) having a third end coupled to the fuselage and a fourth end opposite the third end extending from the fuselage;
a truss (identified with dotted line in annotated fig. 4 below) to support the wing, the truss having a fifth end coupled to the fourth end of the pylon and a sixth end coupled to the wing, the truss extending at an angle relative to the pylon (where dotted and dashe lines are not colinear or parallel in annotated fig. 4 below); and
an engine 5a coupled to the pylon.
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Regarding claim 34, Rouyre teaches that the aircraft includes a forward swept wing (wing 40b, see figs. 1a and 5b).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14−17 and 21−32 are allowed.
Claims 35−36 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: Rouyre is considered the nearest prior art. Rouyre does not teach an engine intake positioned fore of a portion of the leading edge at an adjacent location. Nor does Rouyre teach an exhaust outlet positioned for of the forward swept wing or an engine mounted directly to the pylon without an engine strut. Moreover, it would not have been obvious to modify any of the prior art references, alone or in combination, in order to arrive at the claimed invention.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael B Kreiner whose telephone number is (571)270-5379. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00.
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, Joshua Michener can be reached at (571) 272-1467. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/M.B.K./Examiner, Art Unit 3642
/JOSHUA J MICHENER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3642
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