Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
This office action is in response to the amendment filed 10/03/25. Claim 1-23 and 25-27 are pending. Claim 24 has been canceled. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/20/25 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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 1-3, 6-8, 15-17, 21, 22 and 27 as best understood, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. 2019/0216186 to Shintani et al. (cited as D1 in the Written Opinion mailed 08/10/2021 for PCT/EP2021/068293).
Shintani provides a pole handle 10, for among other things, Nordic walking poles [0002], comprised of having a head region, a grip region 16 and an axial recess 54 which is open for receiving a pole tube [0047]. The handle having a core shown as having three apertures extending from lateral side to lateral side in mirror like symmetry and a closed top surface enclosing a cavity that extends longitudinally long a direction of travel. At least two inclined webs are shown on each side wall between the apertures forming a grid like structure (see at least Fig.3B). Three is considered to meet each of “at least one”, “at least two”, “three” and “and least three”. The disclosure is silent as to the area of the aperture(s) but as noted in the written opinion, ledge 22 is disclosed as having a length of 82 mm. From this, one having ordinary skill in the art could reasonably infer from the figures that at least one of the aperture has an area of 15 mm2 and thus a total aperture area would be at least 15 mm2. In accordance with MPEP 2125, the drawings can be relied upon for teaching structural features whether unexplained or unintended for what they reasonably disclosure or suggest to one having ordinary skill in the art. 15 mm2 includes at least 10 mm2.
Claims 4, 5, 9-14, 18-20, 23, 25 and 26 are allowed.
Applicant's arguments filed 10/03/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s main arguments are that Shitani et al. fails to provide a cavity that longitudinally extends along a direction of travel and that there are no side walls.
This is not persuasive because as shown in the marked-up figures below, Shitani does in fact have side walls which include the webs separating three apertures to form vents 26. The figures suggest a continuous cavity from front to rear in the direction of travel as no walls are clearly visible dividing the spaces between the sidewalls, however, assuming argumento that even if there were webs from sidewall to sidewall, there would still be three cavities with an extent in the longitudinal direction of travel.
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In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., one-piece, injection molding processes, cushioning) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). Further, the claims use the transitional phrase, “comprising” which is open ended and it is irrelevant if the reference has different reasons for its structure as long as each of the claimed features is provided.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT CANFIELD whose telephone number is (571)272-6840. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6, some Saturdays.
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ROBERT CANFIELD
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3636
/Robert Canfield/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3636