DETAILED ACTION
Note: The previous Office Action is being withdrawn and claims dated 3/20/2025 are now entered.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 12, 15, 16 & 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kelton et al. (U.S. Patent Number 6,729,884).
Referring to claim 12, Kelton et al. discloses comprising: a retail store (Fig. 16: In store locations and on-line shopping (391)) that is equipped with: financial literacy training materials (column 25 lines 19-22); merchandise (column 25 lines 22-27); generic play money that designates currency denominations that correspond to denominations in real currency (column 4 lines 1-6); and a participating business specific item that differs from the generic play money in that the participating business specific item displays an identification that is indicative of the participating business, the participating business specific item being selected from the group consisting of at least one member of participating business play money, rewards, coupons, and gift cards that are all honored by the participating business toward making purchases from the participating business or the retail store (column 9 lines 28-67).
Referring to claim 15, Kelton et al. discloses wherein the retail store is in a mall (Fig. 16).
Referring to claim 16, Kelton et al. discloses further comprising: shelves that support the merchandise (Fig. 16: In store locations).
Referring to claim 18, Kelton et al. discloses further comprising: a participating business store that is stocked with further merchandise of the participating business and that honors the participating business specific item as payment for purchasing the further merchandise (column 25 lines 22-27).
Conclusion
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/KESHA FRISBY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715