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 .
This is in response to Applicant’s amendment in which claim 1 has been amended, and claim 1 remains pending.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davis (US 4,944,099) in view of Hustad (US 2,206,898).
Regarding claim 1, Davis discloses a flexible shoe for a mannequin, comprising: a front guide member (38) configured to receive and cover a toe portion of a mannequin's foot (wherein the element 38 is configured to receive and cover at least a bottom portion of a toe portion); a rear guide member (40) configured to receive and cover a heel portion of the mannequin's foot (wherein the element 40 is configured to receive and cover at least a bottom portion of a heel portion); a cover member (32, 34, 26, 28, 12) configured to cover the mannequin's foot which is inserted onto the front guide member and the rear guide member (Fig. 3); and a protrusion member (16) which is mounted on a bottom surface of the cover member at a position corresponding to the rear guide member (wherein the protrusion member is directly below the rear guide member), the protrusion member being extended downwardly and configured to have a same height as that of a heel of the mannequin (depending on the configuration of the mannequin), wherein the protrusion member serves as a heel of the shoe for supporting a bottom surface of the shoe, wherein the front guide member, the rear guide member, and the cover member are separate members; the front guide member and the rear guide member are configured to be spaced apart from each other along a front-to-rear direction of the mannequin's foot when worn on the mannequin's foot (Fig. 3); and the cover member is configured to be stretched to wrap around both the front guide member and the rear guide member together (wherein shank 12 provides stretch to allow the entire upper member to stretch) and configured to cover a lower surface of a sole of the mannequin's foot exposed between the front guide member and the rear guide member (as seen in Fig. 3 shank 12 is exposed between the front and rear guide members), and wherein the protrusion member is configured to be interposed between an upper portion of the base and a lower portion of the shoe configured to be put on the mannequin's foot (column 3, line 43-column 4, line 48; Fig. 1-3).
Davis does not disclose that the protrusion member is detachably mounted. Hustad teaches attaching a protruding heel member (12) to a bottom surface of an upper in a detachable manner, allowing the heel member to be easily replaced when it is worn out (column 1, lines 1-12, column 3, lines 26-32; Fig. 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a detachably mounted protrusion member, as taught by Hustad, to the heel of Davis in order to provide a heel which can be easily replaced by the user when worn out or needing to be replaced.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 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.
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 SHARON M PRANGE whose telephone number is (571)270-5280. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khoa Huynh can be reached at (571) 272-4888. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHARON M PRANGE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3732