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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/21/2023 was filed and the submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
Applicant filed an amended specification, filed March 22, 2023, which has been approved to enter by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kaplan et al. (US 2006/0144732).
RE claim 1, Kaplan et al. (US 2006/0144732) discloses a portable container assembly (see Figs. 1-11C) comprising: a support (30) (See Exhibit A) being capable of assisting a user position from a storage position or a kneeling position (see Fig. 6; paragraph [0039]) to a fully extended position (see Fig. 1A; paragraph [0030]) or a standing position when a hand of the user presses downwardly on said support against a ground surface; a container (14) being removably coupled to said support (30) and enclosing a receiving space, said container being capable of containing items (see paragraphs [0034-35]) such as gardening articles within said receiving space; and a coupler (28, 80, and 82) releasably fastening said support to said container. Note that Kaplan et al. portable container assembly (US 2006/0144732) discloses a sheath (28) having a plurality of apertures (82, 82) and a plurality of biased pins (80 and 80), which could be considered [AltContent: textbox (Hand Grip)]as a coupler, releasably fastening said support to said container.
[AltContent: arrow]Exhibit A
[AltContent: textbox (Retractable and Extendable Elongated Shaft (30))][AltContent: textbox (A pair of lateral Sections )][AltContent: textbox (Handle )][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow]
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RE claims 2, 3, and 4, Fig. 5B of Kaplan et al. portable container assembly (US 2006/0144732) teaches said support includes a handle (see Exhibit A), said handle including a grip being configured for being grabbed by the hand of the user, and further including a rigid frame being coupled to said grip, said rigid frame including a pair of lateral sections, each lateral section of rigid frame being coupled to a respective one of a pair of lateral ends of said grip and protruding downwardly from said grip, an end of each lateral section of said pair of lateral sections being coupled to a central section of said rigid frame, and further including an elongated shaft being coupled to said handle, said elongated shaft being positioned perpendicular relative to said grip, a top end of said elongated shaft being coupled to said central section of said rigid frame.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weaver (7,896,157) in view of Callander (D561,543).
RE claim 1, Weaver (7,896,157) discloses a portable container assembly (see Figs. 1-2) comprising: a support (2); a container (8 and 4) (see Fig. 1) being removably coupled to said support (2) and enclosing a receiving space, said container being capable of containing items or articles (17, 15, 28, 29) within said receiving space; and a coupler, a cylinder shape outer member (See Fig. 1) being releasably fastened said support (2) to said container. Note that Weaver’s tool caddy or portable container assembly (7,896,157) provides a polystyrene handle (6), a plastic storage receptacle (8), an aluminum alloy base member (4) where the aluminum alloy tubing or shaft (2) is being releasably fastened (see Col. 3, lines 12-19). Weaver’s tool caddy does not specifically show a telescoping handle or shaft capable of in a storage position to a fully extended position. However, Callander (D561,543) shows an interchangeable telescoping handle or shaft capable of providing between a storage or retracted position (see Fig. 7) to a fully extended position(see Fig. 7). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the mechanical engineering art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide a telescoping handle on the Weaver’s tool caddy as taught by Callander (D561,543) to provide a convenience to retract for storage or to extend preventing a back injury or back pain to a user. Note that Fig. 9 of Callander (D561,543) shows a shaft with an extendable inner tubing provided with an inner threaded and a cap provided as a means to retract or extend the shaft or handle to a user.
RE claims 2-4, Fig. 1 of Weaver’s tool caddy discloses said support includes a handle, said handle including a grip being configured for being grabbed by the hand of the user, and further including a rigid frame being coupled to said grip, said rigid frame including a pair of lateral sections, each lateral section of rigid frame being coupled to a respective one of a pair of lateral ends of said grip and protruding downwardly from said grip, an end of each lateral section of said pair of lateral sections being coupled to a central section of said rigid frame, and further including an elongated shaft being coupled to said handle, said elongated shaft being positioned perpendicular relative to said grip, a top end of said elongated shaft being coupled to said central section of said rigid frame.
RE claim 5, Weaver’s tool caddy does not specifically show a mounting plate being coupled to a bottom end of said elongated shaft, said mounting plate being positioned parallel relative to said grip, a plurality of holes extending through a top surface and a bottom surface of said mounting plate, each of said holes being positioned within a respective one of a plurality of corners of said mounting plate. However, Figs. 10, 11, and 15-17 of Callander (D561,543) show an interchangeable telescoping handle or shaft and a mounting plate being connected to the distal end of the handle. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the mechanical engineering art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide a mounting plate of the shaft (2) and the base (4) of Weaver’s tool caddy as taught by Callander (D561,543) to firmly secure to a user. It is pointed out that Weaver’s tool caddy shows the base plate (4) having an aperture (30) for securing. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the mechanical engineering art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide a plurality of holes within a respective one of a plurality of corners of said mounting plate on the Weaver’s tool caddy to firmly secure for reliability to a user.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 7 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.
Claim 8 is allowed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Blanchard; Bradley V. ‘874, Price; Vienna ‘826, and Mouch; Robert C. ‘767 show a D-shape handle.
Hines; Ralph’ 044 provides a tool carrying caddy.
Other references as recited in PTO-892 show various portable caddies or containers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL T CHIN whose telephone number is (571) 272-2097. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-4:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Hodge, can be reached on (571) 272-6911. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAUL T CHIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654