Appeal No. 2004-0332
Application No. 09/725,447
Attention is directed to the main and supplemental briefs
(Paper Nos. 19 and 21) and to the last Office action and answer
(Paper Nos. 20 and 22) for the respective positions of the
appellant and the examiner regarding the merits of this
rejection.
DISCUSSION
I. Grouping of claims
The appellant states that for purposes of this appeal
“claims 1, 3, 6-8 and 10-14 stand or fall together” (supplemental
brief, page 5). In accordance with this statement, and pursuant
to 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7), we shall decide the appeal as to the
examiner’s rejection on the basis of representative claim 1
alone, with claims 3, 6 through 8 and 10 through 14 standing or
falling with claim 1.
II. The merits
Horiuchi discloses several examples of a vehicle front
pillar 1. The Figure 5 embodiment focused on by the examiner,
which is a variant of the basic embodiment shown in Figure 2,
comprises an outer panel 11, a pillar stiffener 12, an inner
pillar 13, and a reinforcing member 16, all made of a light
alloy. The pillar stiffener 12 and inner pillar 13 include
curved medial portions 12c and 13c, and rear and front flanges
3
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