DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 9-25,27-37,39 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Porter et al. (US 6782846 B1) in view of Mandato (US 2613678 A) and Rauh (US 0926766 A).
For claim 9, Porter et al. teach a pet grooming tool comprising:
(a) a toothed portion (24,32, fig. 4) comprising a main body with a forward face and an opposite rear face; the toothed portion having a back surface and an opposite front surface, the toothed portion comprising a plurality of teeth (32) and a plurality of edge segments (30); the plurality of teeth and edge segments extending from the main body and arranged in a row, there being a gap between each adjacent pair of the teeth, the edge segments alternating with the teeth and bridging the gaps between the teeth, the edge segments being configured and adapted to engage loose fur in a pet's coat as such loose fur extends through the gaps in a manner removing the loose fur from the pet's coat;
(b) a handle portion (22,28) sized and configured to be held in a human hand; the handle portion being elongate about a longitudinal axis (X); the handle portion being a rigid material; the main body of the toothed portion being contained in a plane angled at a non-zero angle relative to the longitudinal axis (at 90 degrees).
However, Porter et al. are silent about (c) a fur ejector portion comprising a solid planar plate having a free end edge extending continuously between opposite lateral sides of the toothed portion, the free end edge being parallel to the row of teeth and a movable actuation button positioned to be engageable with a human thumb when a remaining part of the human hand is holding the handle portion; a pressing force on the actuation button causing fur to be forced from the gaps between the teeth by contacting the fur with the free end edge of the plate only outside of the gaps between the teeth; and (d) a biasing portion positioned to bias against movement of the actuation button.
Mandato teaches in the same field of endeavor of grooming tool, the tool comprising a hair ejector portion (7,8,9,11,12) comprising a movable actuation button (8,9); the fur ejector portion being configured such that movement of the actuation button causes fur to be forced from the gaps between the teeth (2) by contacting the fur only outside of the gaps between the teeth (see fig. 2 which shows the portion 12 on the outside of the teeth); a biasing portion (10) positioned to bias against movement of the actuation button. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include a fur ejector portion, a movable actuation button, and a biasing portion with the location or placement of the ejector portion on the outside of the gaps between teeth as taught by Mandato in the grooming tool of Porter et al. in order to clean debris or fur/hair that are left on the grooming tool.
Rauh teaches in the same field of endeavor of grooming tool, the tool comprising a fur ejector portion comprising a solid planar plate (4) having a free end edge (from 4a on the left to 4a on the right in fig. 1) extending continuously between opposite lateral sides of the toothed portion (1a), the free end edge being parallel to the row of teeth. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include a solid planar plate having a free end edge extending continuously between opposite lateral sides of the toothed portion, the end edge being parallel to the row of teeth as taught by Rauh for the fur ejector portion of Porter et al. as modified by Mandato in order to provide more surface area on the ejector portion so as to remove more fur/hair from the grooming tool.
Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh would result in the fur ejector portion being configured such that movement of the actuation button causes fur to be forced from the gaps between the teeth by contacting the fur only outside of the gaps between the teeth by contacting the fur with the end edge of the plate only outside of the gaps between the teeth (Mandato teaches the fur ejector scraping the fur on the outside of the teeth of the grooming tool, thus, combined with Rauh’s teaching of the plate, the plate would perform the same).
For claim 10, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 9, and further teach wherein the row of the teeth is straight and the plurality of edge segments lie within a common plane (as shown in figs. 4-5 of Porter et al.).
For claim 11, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 9, and further teach wherein each of at least a plurality of the edge segments of the toothed portion comprises a leading surface portion (can be either surface where ref. 36 is pointing at or the surface below ref. 38, depending on how one look at the device to considered leading or trailing in Porter et al.) and a trailing surface portion (can be either surface where ref. 36 is pointing at or the surface below ref. 38, depending on how one look at the device to considered leading or trailing in Porter et al.), and the trailing surface portion and the leading surface portion of each of the plurality of the edge segments forms an acute included angle (as shown in fig. 5 of Porter et al.).
For claim 12, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 11, and further teach wherein the leading surface portions of the plurality of the edge segments are generally coplanar (as shown in figs. 4-5 of Porter et al.).
For claim 13, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 9, and further teach wherein the biasing portion comprises no more than a single coil-spring (Mandato shows only one single coil-spring 10).
For claim 14, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 9 but are silent about wherein the actuation button is centered over the planar plate. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to locate the actuation button of Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh at centered over the planar plate, depending on how long the fur ejector portion is so as to provide the most comfortable location for pressing and it is usually or common sense to place it in the middle or center for a more balance pressing location, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
For claim 15, Porter et al. teach a pet grooming tool comprising:
a toothed portion (24), the toothed portion comprising a plurality of teeth (32) arranged in a row and a plurality of edge segments (30), there being a gap between each adjacent pair of the teeth (see fig. 4), the edge segments alternating with the teeth and bridging the gaps between the teeth, the edge segments being configured and adapted to engage loose fur in a pet's coat as such loose fur extends through the gaps in a manner removing the loose fur from the pet’s coat; wherein the teeth extend from a front surf ace to a back surface (figs. 4-5).
However, Porter et al. are silent about a fur ejector portion, the fur ejector portion comprising an edge, the edge of the fur ejector portion being movable between a first position and a second position relative to the toothed portion, the edge segments of the toothed portion being between the edge of the fur ejector portion and tips of the teeth when the fur ejector portion is in the first position, each of the teeth being covered by the fur ejector portion when the fur ejector portion is in the second position; at least one biasing portion biasing the edge of the fur ejector portion away from the second position and toward the first position; the fur ejector portion being configured and adapted to permit fur to pass through the gaps of the toothed portion when the edge of the fur ejector portion is in the first position, each of the teeth being fully covered along the back surface by the fur ejector portion, when the fur ejector portion is in the second position, and the edge of the fur ejector portion being adapted to move relative to the toothed portion and to contact fur passing through the gaps of the toothed portion in a manner forcing the fur out from the gaps of the toothed portion as the fur ejector portion moves away from the first position toward the second position.
Mandato teaches in the same field of endeavor of grooming tool, the tool comprising a fur ejector portion (7,8,9,11,12), the fur ejector portion comprising an edge (any edge of ref. 12), the edge of the fur ejector portion being movable between a first position and a second position relative to the toothed portion (as shown in fig. 1); at least one biasing portion (10) biasing the edge of the fur ejector portion away from the second position and toward the first position; the fur ejector portion being configured and adapted to permit fur to pass through the gaps of the toothed portion when the edge of the fur ejector portion is in the first position; and the edge of the fur ejector portion being adapted to move relative to the toothed portion and to contact fur passing through the gaps of the toothed portion in a manner forcing the fur out from the gaps of the toothed portion as the fur ejector portion moves away from the first position toward the second position. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include a fur ejector portion, a movable actuation button, and a biasing portion to move the fur ejector portion between a first position and a second position as taught by Mandato in the grooming tool of Porter et al. in order to clean debris or fur/hair that are left on the grooming tool.
Rauh teaches in the same field of endeavor of grooming tool, the tool comprising a fur ejector portion comprising a solid planar plate (4) having an end edge extending continuously between opposite lateral sides of the toothed portion, the end edge being parallel to the row of teeth, each of the teeth being fully covered along the back surface by the fur ejector portion, when the fur ejector portion is in the second position (fig. 2 shows the plate 4 covering the back surface of the teeth), each of the teeth being covered by the fur ejector portion when the fur ejector portion is in the second position (as shown in fig. 4). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include a solid planar plate having an end edge extending continuously between opposite lateral sides of the toothed portion, the end edge being parallel to the row of teeth, and each of the teeth being fully covered along the back surface by the fur ejector portion, when the fur ejector portion is in the second position, each of the teeth being covered by the fur ejector portion when the fur ejector portion is in the second position, as taught by Rauh for the fur ejector portion of Porter et al. as modified by Mandato in order to provide more surface area on the ejector portion so as to remove more fur/hair from the grooming tool.
The combination of Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh would result in the edge segments of the toothed portion (as already taught in Porter) being between the edge of the fur ejector portion and tips of the teeth when the fur ejector portion is in the first position (per the location of the fur ejector portion in Mandato).
For claim 16, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 10, thus, please see above.
For claim 17, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 13, thus, please see above.
For claim 18, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 15 wherein the fur ejector portion directly contacts at least a portion of the toothed portion (as shown in figs. 1,3,4 of Mandato).
For claim 19, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 15, and further teach wherein the edge segments are exposed when the fur ejector portion is in both the first position and second position (as combined with Mandato’s teaching, the edge segments in Porter will be exposed).
For claim 20, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 15, wherein each of the teeth is completely covered by the fur ejector portion when the fur ejector portion is in the second position (as shown in figs. 2 & 4 of Rauh, the fur ejector portion covers the teeth).
For claim 21, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 15, wherein the fur ejector portion comprises a movable actuation button (as explained in the above with Mandato).
For claim 22, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 21, wherein the actuation button is contained in a same plane as the edge of the fur ejector portion (fig. 1 of Mandato shows that the button 8,9 is in the same plane with the portion 12 that goes through orifice 6, thus, would be the same when combined in Porter).
For claim 23, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 22, wherein the actuation button is contained in a plane parallel to the toothed portion (the thickness of button 8,9 of Mandato is in a plane parallel to the toothed portion).
For claim 24, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 21 but are silent about wherein the actuation button is centered between opposite ends of the edge of the fur ejector portion. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to locate the actuation button of Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh at centered between opposite ends of the edge of the fur ejector portion, depending on how long the fur ejector portion is so as to provide the most comfortable location for pressing and it is usually or common sense to place it in the middle or center for a more balance pressing location, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
For claim 25, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 15, and further teach a handle portion (22 of Porter) sized and configured to be held in a human hand; the handle portion being elongate about a longitudinal axis; the toothed portion being contained in a plane angled at a non-zero angle relative to the longitudinal axis (see fig. 5 of Porter).
For claim 27, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 15, the front surface tapering toward the back surface as the front surface and back surface extend toward the tips of the teeth (figs. 1,5 of Porter et al.).
For claim 28, the limitations have been explained in the above, thus, please see above. Not explained are the features of: the fur ejector portion comprising a single plate having a single continuous free end; the free edge of the fur ejector portion being adapted to move relative to only one of the first surface and second surface of the toothed portion and to contact fur passing through the gaps of the toothed portion in a manner forcing the fur out from the gaps of the toothed portion as the fur ejector portion moves away from the first position toward the second position. In addition to the above, Mandato teaches the edge of the fur ejector portion being adapted to move relative to only one of the first surface and second surface of the toothed portion and to contact fur passing through the gaps of the toothed portion in a manner forcing the fur out from the gaps of the toothed portion as the fur ejector portion moves away from the first position toward the second position (as shown in fig. 2 and discussed in col. 2, lines 6-14 of Mandato). Thus, the combination of Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh would result in the same.
For claim 29, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 16, thus, please see above.
For claim 30, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 17, thus, please see above.
For claim 31, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 28 wherein the fur ejector portion directly contacts the second surface of the toothed portion (as shown in either Mandato figs. 1,3,4 or as combined with Rauh’s for the solid plate).
For claim 32, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 19, thus, please see above.
For claim 33, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 21, thus, please see above.
For claim 34, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 24, thus, please see above.
For claim 35, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 22, thus, please see above.
For claim 36, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 23, thus, please see above.
For claim 37, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 9, thus, please see above.
For claim 39, the limitation has been explained in the above claim 27, thus, please see above.
Claim 8 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Oster et al. (US 1875125 A).
For claim 8, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 1, but are silent about a trim cap secured against the forward face of the main body, such that the main body is between the trim cap and the fur ejector portion.
Oster et al. teach in the same field of endeavor of grooming tool, the tool comprising a trim cap (28) secured against the forward face of the main body (7). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to substitute the cap or head configuration in Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh with a trim cap secured against the main body configuration of Oster et al., since a simple substitution of one known equivalent element for another would obtain predictable results (both configurations would allow securement of the toothed portion onto the handle portion and protect the toothed portion). KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 1739, 1740, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395, 1396 (2007).
The combination of Porter et al. as modified by Mandato, Rauh, and Oster et al. would result in the trim cap secured against the forward face of the main body, such that the main body is between the trim cap and the fur ejector portion because the trim cap (as relied on with Oster) is the farthest or end element, thus, would result in the main body (of Porter) being between the trip cap and the fur ejector portion (as relied on Mandato with plate modification from Rauh).
Claims 26,38 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Willinger et al. (US 6213055 B1).
For claims 26 & 38, Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh teach the pet grooming tool in accordance with claim 25, but are silent about wherein the handle includes a rubbery grip portion.
Willinger et al. teach in the same field of endeavor of grooming tool comprising a handle (12) includes a rubbery grip portion (40). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include a rubbery grip portion as taught by Willinger et al. on the handle of Porter et al. as modified by Mandato and Rauh in order to provide a better gripping surface for the user.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 8-39 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Noting that some arguments are repeat from previous remarks, which were addressed in the previous Office actions.
Conclusion
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/Son T Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3643