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 § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by DiMascio et al. (US Patent No. 4,014,146).
For claim 1, DiMascio et al. a door framing assembly (fig. 9) for installation to a rough door opening in a wall, comprising: a plurality of trim pieces (82) for overlying said wall to conceal edges of said rough opening; a frame comprising: a plurality of brackets (83) positioned along an axis of said trim pieces and holding said trim pieces in opposed, spaced apart relationship defining a pocket for reception of a jamb, said each of said brackets having a hole (hole that receives 22) sized for receiving a shaft of a fastener; flanges (54, 55) received in corresponding slots of said trim pieces, such that each of said trim pieces is retained to said frame and pivotable around said flanges toward said wall.
For claim 4, DiMascio et al. discloses that the flanges are slidable in the slots along a length of the trim pieces (fig. 9).
For claim 5, DiMascio et al. discloses a jamb (16) sized for an interference fit in said pocket between said trim pieces, such that said jamb urges said trim pieces to pivot toward said wall.
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.
Claim(s) 2-3, 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DiMascio et al. (US Patent No. 4,014,146) in view of Barker (US Patent No. 4,993,764).
For claim 2, DiMascio et al. does not disclose that the frame further comprises a pair of axially extending posts, and said flanges are part of the posts.
Barker discloses the obviousness of making the frame (fig. 1, 10) of a door framing assembly axially extending.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to make the frame of DiMascio et al. comprise a pair of axially extending posts as made obvious by Barker to increase the strength of the attachment between the trim pieces and the jamb.
For claim 3, the combination discloses that the posts will extend along a length of the trim pieces (Barker fig. 1, 10).
For claim 15, the combination discloses the obviousness of providing a header section and a jamb section (Barker fig. 3, 56, 58, also inherent) and it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to add a frame to both the header and the jamb section.
For claim 16, it would be obvious to add a trim piece with a slot to the header section of the combination to receive a frame of the jamb section since this is well known practice to provide a complete door opening that is trimmed.
For claim 17, the combination discloses that each bracket comprises a plurality of horizontally-offset holes (fig. 4, holes present in bracket) ‘for receiving a plurality of fasteners, wherein said plurality of fasteners can be driven into or retracted from said wall to square said brackets’ (intended use recitation treated in accordance with MPEP 2114).
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DiMascio et al. (US Patent No. 4,014,146).
For claim 6, DiMascio et al. discloses the obviousness of tapering some elements of the door frame (col. 1 lines 49-50) and it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to taper the jamb for ease of assembly.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-14 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: The prior art of record neither anticipates or makes obvious a door framing assembly having all the limitations set forth in claim 1 and further requiring a retainer selectively deployable to cover said hole to hold a head of a fastener captive between a bracket and a retainer such that said bracket can be pulled toward an edge of said rough opening by driving said fastener into said wall or pulled away from an edge of said rough opening by retracting said fastener from said wall, to level said door assembly.
Conclusion
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/JOSHUA K IHEZIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3633