Appeal No. 2007-2156
Application No. 10/606,358
icy and snowy roads (Br. 5). Representative claim 1, as presented in Appellants’
Brief, is reproduced below:
1. A studless tire having a tread comprising diene rubber and short
glass fiber which is surface-treated in advance by a surface treating
agent comprising sulfur containing mercaptosilane and dispersed in
said diene rubber so as to be oriented in the tread thickness direction,
wherein when measured at 25°C, said tread has a ratio of complex
elastic modulus E1 in the tread thickness direction and complex
elastic modulus E2 in the tire circumferential direction of
1.1 ≤ E1/E2 ≤ 4
and a tread rubber hardness measured at -10°C of 45 to 75 degrees.
The Examiner relies on the following references in rejecting the appealed
claims:
Marzoochi (‘059) US 3,364,059 Jan. 16, 1968
Marzocchi (‘280) US 3,620,280 Nov. 16, 1971
Uchida EP 1 072 446 A2 Jan. 31, 2001
Claims 1, 9, and 12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over the combination of Uchida, Marzocchi ‘059 and Marzocchi ‘280. (Answer 3-
7). We affirm the rejection.
Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the Examiner
and the Appellants regarding the above-noted rejection, we make reference to the
Answer (mailed December 28, 2006) for the Examiner's reasoning in support of the
rejection, and to the Brief (filed October 16, 2006) for the Appellants’ arguments
thereagainst.
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