DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the remarks and amendments filed on 9/28/23. Claims 1-3, 16, 19-20, 22, and 24-27 are pending. Claims 1-3, 16, 19-20, 22, and 24-27 are rejected.
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 § 103
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 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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-3, 16, 19-20 and 24-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication 2013/0263377 to Wootten, Jr. (“Wootten”) in view of US Patent 1,876,591 to Bawden.
Claim 1. An expandable pillow cover comprising: a first layer (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #16); a second layer (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #18) positioned opposite to the first layer to define an interior space (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #30) therebetween, the first and second layers being joined to one another at at least junctures of at least two opposing openable sides, and at least two other sides (Wootten, Figs. 1, 3A and 5; regarding which sides have a zipper, Wootten paragraph [0080] discloses that a zipper closure may be positioned along one or more choses sides; Wootten paragraph [0081] also discloses “variations of this closure 20 mechanism will be readily recognized by those of skill in the art,” furthermore, Bawden teaches a similar pillow that includes gusset panels on two ends, as seen in Fig. 2; therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide zippers on any or all sides of the pillow of Wootten as a matter of design choice, since doing so would have simply been combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable and obvious results), the at least two opposing openable sides being between the two other sides (see Bawden, Fig. 2; additionally Wootten, paragraph [0159] discloses that zipper fastener closures may be located on any side as may be desired), wherein the openable sides and the other sides define four corners at which the first and second layers are joined to one another (Wootten, see at least Fig. 5); gusset panels positioned between the first layer and the second layer in the interior space (Wootten, Fig. 3A; also see Bawden Fig. 2) and adjacent the at least two opposing openable sides; and at least two zippers zippers the zippers extending fully to corners of the pillow cover (as discussed above with respect to claim 1, it would be obvious to place zippers at any location on any side as may be desired; see Wootten paragraphs [0080]-[0081] and [0159], also see Bawden Fig. 2)., wherein the cover is adjustable between a first condition where one or both of the zippers fastened to contract its respective gusset panel within the interior space and the interior space has a first volume, and a second condition where one or both of the zippers panel, exposing the respective gusset panel or panels to the environment (Wootten does not provide details of his gusset panels; however Bawden teaches a similar pillow that includes gusset panels on two ends, as seen in Fig. 1 wherein gusset panels #14 are exposed to the environment when zippers are opened, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the gusset configuration of Bawden Fig. 1 on any or all sides of the pillow of Wootten as a matter of design choice, since doing so would have simply been combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable and obvious results), and the interior space has a second volume greater than the first volume (the zippers of Wootten are inherently openable and closable, see Figs. 3A and 3B; also see Bawden Fig. 2).
Claim 2. The expandable pillow cover of claim 1 wherein the pillow cover has two opposing long sides and two opposing short sides between the opposing long sides, and wherein the at least two openable sides are two opposing short sides (see Bawden Figs 1-2).
Claim 3. The expandable pillow cover of claim 1 wherein the pillow cover has two opposing long sides and two opposing short sides between the opposing long sides, and wherein the at least two openable sides are two opposing long sides (Wootten paragraph [0080] discloses that a zipper closure may be positioned along one or more choses sides; Wootten paragraph [0081] also discloses “variations of this closure 20 mechanism will be readily recognized by those of skill in the art,” furthermore, Bawden teaches a similar pillow that includes gusset panels on two ends, as seen in Fig. 2; therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide zippers on any or all sides of the pillow of Wootten as a matter of design choice, since doing so would have simply been combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable and obvious results).
Claim 16. An expandable pillow cover comprising: a first layer (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #16); a second layer (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #18) positioned opposite to the first layer to define an interior space (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #30) therebetween; a gusset (Wootten, Fig. 3A) positioned between the first layer and the second layer; an outer periphery defined by at least one of the first layer, the second layer and the gusset (the pillow of Wootten inherently has an outer periphery; see at least Figs. 1-4); an opening (Wootten paragraph [0159] discloses “The outer shell 12 may include a closure for closing the opening of the outer shell 12”) for allowing access to the interior space; and a zipper and overlying the gusset (Wootten does not provide details of his gusset panels; however Bawden teaches a similar pillow that includes gusset panels on two ends, as seen in Fig. 1 wherein gusset panels #14 are exposed to the environment when zippers are opened, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the gusset configuration of Bawden Fig. 1 on any or all sides of the pillow of Wootten as a matter of design choice, since doing so would have simply been combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable and obvious results), wherein the cover is adjustable between a first condition where the zipper volume, and the gusset is enclosed within the interior space volume (Bawden, Figs. 1-2), and second condition where the zipper volume, and the gusset is expanded and directly exposed to the environment (Bawden, Fig. 2).
Claim 19. The expandable pillow cover of claim 16, wherein the fastener extends completely about the outer periphery (Wootten, Fig. 1, #20).
Claim 20. The expandable pillow cover of claim 16, wherein the gusset is expandable between a closed position (Wootten, Figs. 1 and 3B; ; also see Bawden Fig. 2) within the interior space corresponding to the first condition, and an open position (Wootten, Fig. 3A; also see Bawden Fig. 2) spacing apart the first and second layers, corresponding to the second condition.
Claim 24. The expandable pillow cover of claim 16, wherein in the first condition, the interior space is bound by the first layer, the second layer and the fastener (Wootten, Fig. 3B; also see Bawden Fig. 2), and in the second condition, the interior space is bound by the first layer, the second layer and the gusset (Wootten, Fig. 3A; also see Bawden Fig. 2).
Claim 25. An expandable pillow cover comprising: a first layer (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #16); a second layer (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #18) positioned opposite to the first layer to define an interior space (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #30) therebetween, a first pair of opposing sides and a second pair of opposing sides (the pillow of Wootten has two short sides and two long sides as seen in Fig. 1), the first and second layers being joined to one another at corners of the first and second layers; zippers positioned on each side of the first pair of opposing sides and on each side of the second pair of opposing sides to releasably sides, the zippers extending to corners of the pillow cover (Wootten, Figs. 1, 3A and 5; regarding which sides have a zipper, Wootten paragraph [0080] discloses that a zipper closure may be positioned along one or more chosen sides; Wootten paragraph [0081] also discloses “variations of this closure 20 mechanism will be readily recognized by those of skill in the art,” furthermore, Bawden teaches a similar pillow that includes gusset panels on two ends, as seen in Fig. 2; therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide zippers on any or all sides of the pillow of Wootten as a matter of design choice, since doing so would have simply been combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable and obvious results; regarding the zippers extending to corners of the pillow cover, the zippers of Bawden Figs. 1-2 appear to be in the same location as those of Applicant’s Figs 11A-12B; furthermore, Applicant has not shown that there is any criticality to the zippers extending to the corners and to the extent that Bawden may be different than Applicant’s Fig. 11A, it would have been obvious to extend the zippers to the corners as a matter of design choice in view of the disclosure of Wootten); and a gusset (Wootten, Fig. 3A, #26) positioned between the first layer and the second layer at each of the openable and closeable sides wherein the zippers overlie respective gussets, wherein each of the zippers is operable independently of the others of the zippers, to expand and contract each side independently of each other side (it is inherent that zippers that are not comprise the same chain or slider portions are independently operable; in the proposed combination of Wootten and Bawden with four separate zippers, the zippers would be independently operable) such that when the zipper is closed its respective gusset is enclosed within the interior space and when the zipper is opened, its respective gusset is expanded and directly exposed to the environment (Wootten does not provide details of his gusset panels; however Bawden teaches a similar pillow that includes gusset panels on two ends, as seen in Fig. 1 wherein gusset panels #14 are exposed to the environment when zippers are opened, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the gusset configuration of Bawden Fig. 1 on any or all sides of the pillow of Wootten as a matter of design choice, since doing so would have simply been combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable and obvious results).
Claim 26. The expandable pillow cover of claim 25 wherein each of the zippers extends to their respective corners (as discussed above with respect to claim 25, it would be obvious to place zippers at any location on any side as may be desired; see Wootten paragraphs [0080]-[0081] and [0159], also see Bawden Fig. 2).
Claim 27. The expandable pillow cover of claim 25 including an opening for allowing access to the interior space (Wootten paragraph [0159] discloses “The outer shell 12 may include a closure for closing the opening of the outer shell 12”).
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication 2013/0263377 to Wootten, Jr. (“Wootten”) and in view of US Patent 1,876,591 to Bawden in view of US Patent 4,309,784 to Cohen.
Claim 22. The expandable pillow cover of claim 16, wherein the opening is formed in one of the first layer and the second layer (Wooten and Bawden teach zippers at perimeter edges of the pillow, but does not teach an opening on the face or back of the pillow; however, Cohen teaches a similar pillow with a cover that opens along one side, or layer, of the pillow; Applicant has not shown that there is any criticality to the location of the opening and it appears that the apparatus would perform equally well with the opening location being at a perimeter edge as taught by Wootten or on the face of the pillow, as taught by Cohen; therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to place the opening of Wootten on the first or second layer as claimed, since doing so would have been simply the use of a known technique with a known device to yield predictable and obvious results).
Response to Applicant's remarks and amendments
With respect to claim 1, Applicant argues on page 7 of Applicant’s remarks that in the amended claim language overcomes the rejection under 35 USC §102 in view of Wooten and further argues that the claimed limitations are not found in the teaching of Bawden. Examiner agrees that the amended claim language overcomes the rejection under 35 USC §102 in view of Wootten, however the amended claim language is obvious in view of Wootten and Bawden, as discussed in the new rejections above, necessitated by Applicant’s amendments. Specifically, Applicant argues that Wootten does not disclose zipper overlying gusset panels. Wootten Fig. 3A discloses a pillow with an expanded gusset, which also comprises a zipper. Wootten Fig. 4 discloses a pillow with a zipper on the perimeter. However, Wootten does not disclose details of the configuration of the fastener with respect to the zipper. Bawden however does teach these details, in at least Fig. 1, and teaches a gusset configuration that is substantially the same as that which is disclosed by Applicant, for example in Applicant’s Fig. 11A.
Applicant argues that the zippers of Wootten and Bawden do not extend fully to the corners of the pillow. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Bawden Fig. 1 teaches a gusset configuration that is substantially the same as that which is disclosed by Applicant’s Figs. 11A-12B.
Applicant argues that the zippers of Bawden do not function to expand or contract the interior volume of the pillow, but instead are intended to ventilate the pillow. While ventilation may be one intended use of the zippers of Bawden, it is also true that the zippers cause the interior volume of the pillow to expand or contract, as seen in Bawden Fig. 2.
Applicant argues that there is no motivation to combine the gusset and zipper of Bawden with the pillow of Wootten. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Wootten acknowledges in paragraph [0081] that “variations of this closure 20 mechanism will be readily recognized by those of skill in the art.” One variation known in the art is that which is taught by Bawden. It therefore would have been obvious to modify the zipper of Wootten Fig. 3A to have fasteners located at the upper and lower edges of gusset #26, in the upper and lower location seen in Bawden Fig. 1.
Applicant makes similar arguments with respect to independent claims 16 and 25, and the rejections in view of Wootten are made for the same reasoning and logic as discussed above for claim 1.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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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/MYLES A THROOP/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3673