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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Williams (WO9600600). Williams discloses a method for catching a ball (bowl 23) with an extended retrieving device, the method comprising a step of: grabbing a handle 11 of a shaft 24,25 of a base 17, positioning a bottom of a first cradle 10,15 of a pair of cradles 10,15 over a ball (bowl 23); pushing downward on the handle 11 wherein inserting the ball (bowl 23) through a trap 12 of the first cradle 10,15; and catching the ball (bowl 23) within a top of the first cradle 10,15. Williams does not disclose that the ball is a bocce ball.
Weldon teaches for boule style games and that bowls and bocce are similar games with the objective of rolling heavy balls as close as possible to a small target ball.
Since Williams and Weldon are both in the same field of endeavor the game of bocce disclosed by Weldon would have been recognized in the pertinent art of Williams. It would have been obvious at a time before the invention was effectively filed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use the method of Williams to catch a bocce ball for the purposes of gathering the bocce ball for the game of bocce.
Prior Art
Prior art made of record but not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure for showing other ball retrievers that include handles and traps to catch balls.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-15 are allowed. The improvement comprises (claim 1) an extended ball retrieving device configured for catching a bocce ball without the user bending over, the extended ball retrieving device comprising: a base being a rectangular prism shape, the base having top surface and a bottom surface, the base having a pair of side surfaces, a pair of cradles being positioned on a respective one of the pair of the side surfaces of the base, each of the cradles further comprising: a pair of screws being drilled into the base, each of the screws having an end, the end of each of the screws protruding out from the base; and a spring being positioned at the end of each of the screws, a trap being enclosed between the spring and the base, the trap defining a space for a ball to be inserted through.
Claim 16 is allowed. The improvement comprises (claim 16) an extended ball retrieving device configured for catching a bocce ball without the user bending over, the extended ball retrieving device comprising: a base being a rectangular prism shape, the base having top surface and a bottom surface, the base having a pair of side surfaces, each of the side surfaces being positioned parallel relative to each other, each of the side surfaces being positioned perpendicular relative to the top surface and the bottom surface; a pair of cradles being positioned on a respective one of the pair of the side surfaces of the base, a first cradle of the pair of cradles being configured for catching a bocce ball, a second cradle of the pair of cradles being smaller-scaled relative to the first cradle, each of the cradles having a top and a bottom, each of the cradles further comprising: a pair of screws being drilled into the base, the pair of screws being positioned perpendicular relative to the pair of side surfaces, each of the screws having an end, the end of each of the screws protruding out from the base, the pair of screws having a pair of covers, the pair of covers enwrapping a respective one of the pair of screws; and a spring being positioned at the end of each of the screws, the spring being configured for being bendable and expandable, the spring being a compression spring, the compression spring being biased towards being unbent, the spring being positioned parallel relative to the pair of side surfaces of the base, the spring having a pair of loops, each of the loops of the spring being secured to a respective one of the end of each of the screws, a trap being enclosed between the spring and the base, the trap defining a space for a ball to be inserted through.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communication from the examiner should be directed to Thomas Lazo whose telephone number is (571) 272-4818. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor Nathaniel Wiehe, can be reached on (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for this Group is (571) 273-8300.
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/THOMAS E LAZO/Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 3745
December 17, 2025