DETAILED ACTION
DETAILED ACTION
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 § 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marston et al (3,887,457).
Marston discloses a separation method for magnetic particles and also discloses that it is known in the art to demagnetize particles using an AC current of diminishing magnitude in combination with an arrangement to physically vibrate (shake) the matrix of magnetic particles (see col.1, lines 32-39).
The device taught by Marston differs from the claims by not reciting the specific support method for the population of magnetic particles and by not reciting the seesaw-type shaker and the location of the demagnetizer elements with respect to the particle support method.
I would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teachings of Marston to meet the claims because persons of ordinary skill would use a shaker and demagnetizing arrangement suited to the expected range of particle dimensions as a conventional design consideration that would not be considered an inventive step.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 8 and 9 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claims 2-6,8 and 9 recite additional features, such as the positioning of demagnetizer elements with respect to wells in a plate supporting the matrix of magnetic particles, that have not been taught or been fairly suggested by the prior art of record.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN W JACKSON whose telephone number is (571)272-2051. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-3:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached at 571-272-1838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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SWJackson
September 24, 2025
/STEPHEN W JACKSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838