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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 8, line 31 appears to have a typo and should read, “said check valve is in the closed position.”
Appropriate correction is required.
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 8, 10-11, 18, 24 and 26-28 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.
Claim 8 recites the inlet and outlet ports each include four separated inwardly projecting protrusions. Applicant states that figure 2 shows three inwardly projecting protrusions and that figure 2 is fragmentary vertical cross section of the filter cartridge. Applicant then states that it would be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that each port will have four inwardly projecting protrusions. The figures only show three protrusions. The written description is silent as to the number of protrusion nor does the written description provide any discussion of or provide any description of the protrusions. While one of ordinary skill in the art might surmise that there are four protrusions, the specification does not expressly teach this. Therefore, the specification as originally filed does not provide sufficient support for the recitation of four protrusions and the recitation in the claims is new matter.
The additional claims are rejected as depending from claim 8.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-4, 7-8, 10-14, 17-19, 21, 23-24 and 26-28 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claim 1 is directed to a water filter assembly comprising a filter head and claim 12 is directed to a filter head. The closest prior art of record, indicated in the previous office action of 4/7/25, teaches as obvious the water filter assembly and filter head but do not teach the flat upper surface extending directly above the bypass conduit nor would it have been obvious to modify the prior art in combination with the other claimed elements to arrive at the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 8, the closest prior art to Ye, Zhu, Kwon, Swain and Zhang teaches as obvious the filter cartridge of claim 8 but do not teach the inlet and outlet ports each include four separated inwardly projecting protrusions. Zhang teaches as obvious providing a check valve in each of the inlet and outlet ports being biased to a closed position by a spring but does not teach the check valve contacts the at least one internal sealing member when the check valve is in the closed position nor would it have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the prior art to arrive at the claimed invention.
The additional claims are allowable as depending from claim 1, 8 or 12.
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
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN M KURTZ whose telephone number is (571)272-8211. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30-5.
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/BENJAMIN M KURTZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1778