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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/24/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 19-40 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.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the support member" in line 11. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 19-20, 25-26, 30-33, 35, 37-44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by ‘853 (GB144853).
For claim 19, ‘853 discloses a method of making a construction connector (figs. 1-2), the method comprising: forming a connection element of the construction connector out of a material (metal); and forming a fastener receiver (6) out of a portion of the material of the connection element, the fastener receiver having a raised element (6^2) and a driving element (6^1), the raised element (6^2) having a proximal end portion connected to the connection element and a distal end portion disposed distally of the proximal end portion, the driving element (6^1) being coupled to the distal end portion of the raised element and extending generally proximally from the distal end portion of the raised element, the driving element including a cylindrical wall defining a fastener opening sized and shaped to receive a fastener (fig. 19) and extend along the fastener (inherent), the driving element having a proximal end configured to be driven into the support member with the fastener and to displace material of the support member as the fastener is driven into the support member (abstract), wherein said forming the fastener receiver includes positioning the proximal end of the driving element relative to the connection element such that the proximal end of the driving element is arranged to be driven into the support member with the fastener after the connection element engages the support member (fig. 1).
For claim 20, ‘853 discloses that forming the fastener receiver includes piercing the portion of the material to form the fastener opening without removing any material (submitted translation, Abstract).
For claims 25-26, ‘853 discloses forming an opening in the raised element, wherein the opening has a circular shape (‘853 fig. 1, 6).
For claim 30, ‘853 discloses that forming the fastener receiver comprises deforming the portion of the material of the connection element in a distal direction to form the raised element (fig. 1, 6^2).
For claim 31, ‘853 discloses that forming the fastener receiver comprises deforming the portion of the material of the connection element in a proximal direction, opposite the distal direction, to form the driving element (fig. 1, 6).
For claim 32, ‘853 discloses that deforming the portion of the material of the connection element in the proximal direction comprises piercing the portion of the material in the proximal direction to form the fastener opening (fig. 1, 6, inherent).
For claim 33, ‘853 discloses that said piercing comprises splitting the portion of the material to form a plurality of tips at the proximal end of the driving element (fig. 1, 6).
For claim 35, ‘853 discloses that the construction connector is an angled bracket (fig. 1).
For claims 37-38, ‘853 discloses that the material comprises sheet metal and a flange (fig. 1, abstract).
For claim 39, ‘853 discloses that the connection element has an interface surface (fig. 2, flat section of connection element surrounding the raised element) arranged to engage the support member when the construction connector is connected to the support member with the fastener, wherein said positioning the proximal end of the driving element includes positioning the proximal end of the driving element to be co-planar with the interface surface (see abstract, when the driving element is driven into the support member).
For claim 40, ‘853 discloses that forming the fastener receiver includes sizing and positioning the distal end portion of the raised element to be engaged by a head of the fastener as the fastener is driven into the support member to drive the proximal end of the driving element into the support member, wherein the driving element includes at least a portion of the cylindrical wall (fig. 2, 6^2).
For claim 41, ‘853 discloses a method of connecting a construction connector (fig. 1) to a support member (fig. 3, C), the method comprising: placing a connection element of the construction connector against the support member; inserting a fastener (d) through a fastener opening of a fastener receiver connected to the construction element; and driving the fastener (d) into the support member, said driving the fastener including driving spaced apart tips (fig. 1, 6) projecting from a driving element of the fastener receiver into the support member as the fastener is driven into the support member (see abstract), the driving element moving relative to the connection element as the driving element is driven into the support member (the driving element digs into the support member).
For claim 42, ‘853 discloses that the fastener receiver further includes a raised element (fig. 2, 6^2), said step of driving the fastener into the support member further including deforming the raised element thereby to drive the driving element into the support member (inherent, see abstract).
For claim 43, ‘853 discloses that driving the fastener into the support member further comprises engaging the raised element with a head of the fastener for transferring force to the raised element to deform the raised element (inherent, see abstract).
For claim 44, ‘853 discloses that the driving element includes a cylindrical wall and said step of driving the fastener into the support member comprises driving at least a portion of the cylindrical wall into the support member (see abstract).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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, 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.
Claim(s) 21-23, 34, 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘853 (GB144853).
For claims 21-23, ‘853 does not explicitly say forming the connection element or fastener receiver comprises stamping the connection element or fastener receiver out of the material, however it would be obvious to use a stamping process since stamping is a well-known process and one of the few processes that can form an opening without removing any material.
For claims 34 and 36, it would be obvious to make the bracket of ‘853 into a joist hanger or a strap since these are well-known roof construction elements to increase the utility of the bracket.
Claim(s) 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘853 (GB144853) in view of Downs et al. (US2017/0009444).
For claim 24, ‘853 does not disclose that forming the fastener receiver occurs after said forming the connection element.
Downs et al. discloses a method of connecting a construction connector (fig. 17, 1) to a support member (3), the method comprising: placing a connection element of the construction connector against the support member; inserting a fastener (33) through a fastener opening of a fastener receiver connected to the construction element; and driving the fastener into the support member, said driving the fastener including driving a driving element of the fastener receiver into the support member as the fastener is driven into the support member, wherein forming the fastener receiver occurs after said forming the connection element ([0087] the connection element is folded into the element before the fastener receiver 5 is stamped).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to form the fastener receiver of ‘853 after forming the connection element as made obvious by Downs et al. to produce the driving element of the connection element.
Claim(s) 27-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘853 (GB144853) in view of ‘900 (WO2020146900).
For claim 27, ‘853 does not disclose a plurality of openings in the raised element.
‘900 discloses a raised element (fig. 18, 38) of a connector having a plurality of openings (36).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to add a plurality of openings to the raised element of the combination as made obvious by ‘900 to provide openings for multiple fasteners and to create weak spots to help with deformation of the raised element.
For claim 28, the combination discloses that each opening of the plurality of openings is an elongate slot (‘900 fig. 18, 36).
For claim 29, it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to form the elongate slots to extend along helical paths as a matter of design choice to increase the aesthetics of the connector and since the applicant has not disclosed any unpredictable and unexpected results gained from forming the openings along helical paths.
Response to Arguments
In response to the argument that ‘853 does not disclose a cylindrical wall, the examiner argues that the driving element shown in fig. 1, 6 with jagged edges is a cylindrical wall.
All other arguments have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA K IHEZIE whose telephone number is (571)270-5347. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5pm.
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/JOSHUA K IHEZIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3633