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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-2, 4-6, 10 and 15/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent 5,788,059 to Jahangiri.
This rejection is set forth in the previous Office Action, dated 6/17/25.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5, 7-9, 11-14 and 16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on September 11, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Jahangiri does not disclose folding step and folding a single sheet of material would not enable to form the plurality of encircling spaced folds protrude from the main plate 12 (see “Remarks” pars. 2 and 6 of page 2). The Examiner disagrees because Jahangiri discloses the folding of the single sheet of electrical insulating material through the process of molding (see Col. 1, lines 47-49) which is well known in the art. The Examiner hereby cited several prior art references as intrinsic evidences that disclosed such technology are well known in the art and not to change the previous rejection. An U.S. Patent 5,007,976 to Satterfiled et al disclose the molding process to fold the thermoplastic sheet into a cover (see Figs. 1-2). An U.S. Patent 7,762,803 to Nakazato et al disclose another molding process of folding a single sheet of material (S) into a three-dimension object having folding section therein (see Figs. 1-7). Also, the previous cited U.S. Patent 11,008,107 to Smith et al disclosed molding a single sheet of material (60a) in to a container/cover (see Figs. 3-6). Therefore, the molding process of Jahangiri would able to form the cover as shown in Fig. 2).
Furthermore, Applicant has not claimed a precisely process of folding the single sheet of material into the switch cover of claim 1. The Examiner broadly read the limitation folding as creating a bend/curve by any meant available such as molding a single sheet of material into a 3-D structure.
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 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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/DN/ /DONGHAI D NGUYEN/May 30, 2026 Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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