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 .
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s amendment filed on April 10, 2026. Claims 1, 3, 10, 14, and 18 have been amended. Claims 10-20 have been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 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.
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 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 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 8,333,335 B2) in view of Weaver et al. (US 2018/0306430 A1).
With regard to claim 1, Xu discloses a showerhead (Fig. 1), comprising: a rear face (50) having an inlet (51) and a front face (30) having a plurality of outlets (31), the front face configured to couple to the rear face to define a shell (Fig. 4) having an internal waterway between the inlet and the plurality of outlets (Fig. 4); a first support (20) disposed within the shell; and a second support (10) disposed within the shell (Fig. 4); wherein the front face (30) and the rear face (50) are configured to snap together (see Col. 4 lines 26-28, the housing 50 and lid 30 are configured to snap together, wherein during assembly the inner wall of the housing elastically deforms and, upon completion of assembly, a lower side of the inner wall resiliently presses against a side surface of the lid, such resilient contact constitutes “biasing against” as broadly and reasonably interpreted by the Examiner); and wherein the first support (20) and the second support (10) configured to snap together (Col. 3 lines 44-49).
Xu does not disclose that the rear face having a plurality of tabs, each of the plurality of tabs protruding outward beyond the rear face; wherein the front face and the rear face are configured to snap together by each of the plurality of tabs of the rear face extending into a portion of the front face.
Weaver teaches a showerhead comprising a rear face (104) and a front face (116), wherein the rear face having a plurality of tabs (208), each of the plurality of tabs protruding outward beyond the rear face (104, Fig. 2); wherein the front face and the rear face are configured to snap together by each of the plurality of tabs of the rear face extending into a portion of the front face (Par. [0032]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the showerhead of Xu, by replacing the fastening mechanism of Xu with the fastening mechanism including the tabs (208) and the intermediate wall (200/210) as taught by Weaver, since the modification is a simple substitution of one known element (for another to obtain predictable results is one of ordinary skill in the art (MPEP 2143 B).
With regard to claim 2, the showerhead of Xu as modified by Weaver discloses the invention as disclosed in the rejection of claim 1 above. Xu further discloses that each of the front face (30), the rear face (50), the first support (20), and the second support (10) are configured to couple to one another without welding or adhesives (Col. 3 lines 44-49 and Col. 4 lines 26-28 and Fig. 4).
With regard to claim 3, the showerhead of Xu as modified by Weaver discloses the invention as disclosed in the rejection of claim 1 above. Xu in view of Weaver further discloses that the front face (116) includes a snap (200/210); wherein the snap (200/210) is configured to snap onto a portion of the second support (180) to couple the front face to the second support (Fig. 4).
With regard to claim 4, the showerhead of Xu as modified by Weaver discloses the invention as disclosed in the rejection of claim 1 above. Xu further discloses that the first support (20) includes a seal having protrusion (211); and the second support (10) includes a seal having an aperture (annual groove 122 shown in Fig. 8) to receive the protrusion to seal the first support with the second support (Fig. 11).
With regard to claim 5, the showerhead of Xu as modified by Weaver discloses the invention as disclosed in the rejection of claim 1 above. Xu further discloses that an entirety of the first support (20) is disposed within the shell such that the first support is not exposed outside the shell when the front face is coupled to the rear face (Fig. 11); and an entirety of the second support (10) is disposed within the shell such that the second support is not exposed outside the shell when the front face is coupled to the rear face (Fig. 11).
With regard to claim 7, the showerhead of Xu as modified by Weaver discloses the invention as disclosed in the rejection of claim 1 above. Xu further discloses that the first support (20) includes at least one alignment key (24) and at least one nozzle (25) that extends through one of the plurality of outlets (31, Fig. 4); and the second support (10) includes at least one protrusion (14) that engages with the at least one alignment key (24) to support the at least one nozzle (25).
With regard to claim 8, the showerhead of Xu as modified by Weaver discloses the invention as disclosed in the rejection of claim 1 above. Xu further discloses that the second support (10) includes an axial lock (upstream end of 11) and a rotational lock (112) configured to rotatably engage with a corresponding axial locking feature (portion between 41 and 43) and rotational locking feature (41) of a handle (40) when the second support (10) is coupled to the handle.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. in view of Weaver as applied in claim 1, and further in view of Petrovic (US 2013/0186972 A1).
With regard to claim 6, the showerhead of Xu as modified by Weaver discloses the invention as disclosed in the rejection of claim 1 above. Xu further discloses that the first support and the second support are the only waterways disposed within the shell (Fig .3).
Xu does not disclose that the first support is a flexible waterway, and the second support is a rigid waterway.
Petrovic teaches a showerhead comprising a first support (154) and a second support, wherein the first support is a flexible waterway, and the second support is a rigid waterway (Par. [0007]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the shower head of Xu, by incorporating the fluid channel fluidly (130) coupled to the pipe and configured to intake air into the pipe (Fig .2) as taught by Zhou, for the benefit of allowing deflection on the flow channel thereby changing the angle of trajectory of the fluid exiting the nozzle (Par. [0005]).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. in view of Weaver as applied in claim 1, and further in view of Zhou et al. (WO 2012068925 A1).
With regard to claim 9, the showerhead of Xu as modified by Weaver discloses the invention as disclosed in the rejection of claim 1 above. Xu further discloses that the second support (10) includes a hole having a first inner diameter (111) and configured to receive fluid from the inlet (Fig. 4); a pipe (42) coupled to the hole and having a second inner diameter (upstream section of 42) that is greater than the first inner diameter (upstream section of 42 has a greater diameter than 111); except a fluid channel fluidly coupled to the pipe and configured to intake air into the pipe.
Zhou teaches a shower head comprising a fluid channel fluidly (130) coupled to the pipe and configured to intake air into the pipe (Fig .2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the shower head of Xu, by incorporating the fluid channel fluidly (130) coupled to the pipe and configured to intake air into the pipe (Fig .2) as taught by Zhou, for the benefit of generating air bubble in the water stream to create foaming mechanism for a shower.
Conclusion
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 JOEL ZHOU whose telephone number is (571)270-1163. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ARTHUR HALL can be reached at 5712701814. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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JOEL . ZHOU
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3752
/QINGZHANG ZHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752
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