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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/26/2025 has been entered. Claims 1 and 11 have been amended. Therefore, claims 1-20 remain pending in the application.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because:
Drawings e.g., figs. 3, 6, 13 and 18 shows heavily shaded and black areas, which makes it not possible to read/view the components. Figures that clearly and distinctly points out the shapes, lines, components, reference lines, numerals, etc. are required for mechanical inventions such as the multi-position ladder disclosed in this application.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 11 line 3 recites “a plurality of rungs being attached to the rails” since the claim establishes “two rails matably attached to each hinge”; the former recitation can be interpreted as that all rungs are “matably” attached to all rails, which cannot be the case since each set of rungs are attached to a respective pair of rails as per the disclosure. Also note that the term “matably” is not a word that can be found in the dictionary, not does it have a special definition in the disclosure.
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 11-16 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 11 recites “the multi-position ladder is configured to be movable between an extension position wherein the rails are coplanar, defining extension position upward-facing rung step surfaces” and also recites “a stepladder position wherein the pair of hinge extensions of each hinge are not parallel, defining stepladder position upward-facing rung step surfaces”; indefiniteness regarding the above recitations arises due to that at least one set of “upward-facing rung step surfaces” will remain unchanged as the ladder switches between the extension position and the stepladder position, hence there is an overlap in the two limitations above; therefore, at least one set of upward-facing rung step surfaces is being claimed twice under different nomenclature. Furthermore, the issue presented previously as being indefinite remains: specifically, where assuming that the recitation in claim 11 i.e., “wherein the planar tread is generally parallel to the extension position upward- facing rung step surfaces when the multi-position ladder is in the extension position” (lines 14-15) is true {as best shown in fig. 13, with reservations on the clarity of fig. 13 (as stated in drawings objection above)}, however, as stated, if the above limitation holds true then, when the ladder is in the stepladder position as shown in fig. 1, one cannot deduce that both sets of rungs, each belonging to each pair of rails remain parallel in the stepladder position and therefore cannot be parallel to the utility tray planar top surface as recited in lines 16-18 of claim 11, also as illustrated in the annotated drawings below.
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Dependent claims are rejected at least for depending from a rejected claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 and 17-20 allowed (once they overcome drawings objections).
Claims 11-16 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/26/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive because:
Applicant argues “solely to advance prosecution, and without any waiver, disclaimer, or surrender of subject matter being intended or effected thereby, Applicant has amended independent claim 11 to further clarify the claimed invention. In particular, claim 11 is amended to recite "extension position upward-facing rung step surfaces" and "stepladder position upward-facing rung step surfaces" to clarify the step surfaces that are parallel to the planar tread in the extension position and the utility tray planar top surface in the stepladder position”; examiner respectfully disagrees and presents that applicant’s arguments/amendments are acknowledged and appreciated, however, they are not sufficient to overcome the indefiniteness issues at hand as detailed above. Examiner also notes that while the best figures were chosen to clarify the indefiniteness issues, the drawings overall fail to clearly shown the design of the rungs, their planes and orientations in each position which is crucial to the crux on what is being claimed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHIREF M MEKHAEIL whose telephone number is (571)270-5334. The examiner can normally be reached 10-7 Mon-Fri.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Cahn can be reached at 571-270-5616. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/S.M.M/Examiner, Art Unit 3634
/DANIEL P CAHN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3634