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 .
Response to Amendment
The claims filed on March 12th, 2026, have been entered. Claims 1-2, 4, 8-12, 14-17, and 19-22 remain pending in the Application. The claim amendments overcome some of the previous 112(b) rejections.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed March 12th, 2026, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that the amended limitation “wherein each of the first, second, third, and fourth interlocking strands has a combination of strand properties comprising strand thickness, strand coefficient of friction, strand material, and strand stiffness, each of the combinations of strand properties differing from each other” overcomes the previous 112(a) and 112(b) rejections based on paragraphs [0044] and [0047]. Examiner respectfully disagrees. The cited paragraphs discuss a first embodiment of the present invention involving two interlocking strands, and how they may have multiple different strand properties from each other, such as having both a different tensile strength and a different surface roughness, and lists that these strand properties may include strand thickness, strand coefficient of friction, strand material, and strand stiffness. However, neither cited paragraph discusses using more than two interlocking strands, which is described in a second embodiment in [0054] that discusses four interlocking strands. This second embodiment does not state that the combinations of strand properties for each interlocking strand are different from each other; instead, the examples given are one strand is different in one property from the other three stands, or two strands are different in one property from the other two strands. Since there is no support for the amendment in the present Specification, the 112(a) and 112(b) rejections are maintained.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-2, 4, 8-12, 14-17, and 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 12, and 15 each recited a variation of “wherein each of the first, second, third, and fourth interlocking strands has a combination of strand properties comprising strand thickness, strand coefficient of friction, strand material, and strand stiffness, each of the combinations of strand properties differing from each other” despite this feature not appearing in the Specification or in the Drawings. In the present Specification, [0044] and [0047] discuss two interlocking strands which can have multiple different strand properties from each other, but this first embodiment does not discuss four interlocking strands. A second embodiment is disclosed in [0054] which has four interlocking strand properties, but does not discuss the interlocking strands having combinations of stand properties which are different from each other. Therefore, these limitations of claim 1, 12, and 15 constitute new matter that was not in the application prior to the amendment, and is rejection under 112(a). Claims 2, 4, 8-11, 14, 16-17, and 19-22 are rejected for their dependency on claims 1, 12, and 15.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-2, 4, 8-12, 14-17, and 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 12, and 15 recite the limitation “a combination of” in lines 13, 10, and 11, respectively. This limitation is indefinite because the claim does not particularly point out what combinations of strand thickness, strand coefficient of friction, strand material, and strand stiffness are being claimed, and the limitation can be interpreted in several different ways, including all of the properties must be different, or the combination of properties must be different where only one individual property needs to be different to change the totality of the combination. Claims 2, 4, 8-11, 14, 16-17, and 19-22 are rejected for their dependency on claims 1, 12, and 15.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JRM/Examiner, Art Unit 3771
/KATHLEEN S HOLWERDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3771