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 § 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.
Claims 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reznar (US 10,408,252) in view of Ueno (US 2012/0308328). Reznar discloses a fastener assembly (10) capable of securing first and second components comprising: a first stamped-metal retainer (12) having a body defining a recess and a flange (20); the body includes outer retaining legs (30) resiliently coupled to a sidewall configured to engage an opening and inner retaining legs (34) engaging a second retainer; the second retainer includes a stamped-metal retainer body (11) having a base (at 15) and a fixed sleeve (18); the second retainer sleeve receives a threaded fastener (52); wherein the second retainer is configured rotate about 90° within the recess from a first unfastened position (Fig. 4) to second fastened position (Fig. 10) and capable of sandwiching the components between. Reznar discloses the second retainer to have a peripheral edge with a generally rectangular profile but does not disclose a curved profile. Ueno discloses fastener assembly with a second retainer body (90) similar to Reznar and teaches it can have a curved edge profile (best seen in Fig. 4) as an alternative to a rectangular profile (see Fig. 18(b)). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to change the rectangular edge profile of Renzar to a curved edge profile as disclosed in Ueno because Ueno teaches them as alternatives for yielding the same results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-14 are allowable as a result of the amendments to claim 1.
Conclusion
Applicant’s remarks have been considered but are now moot.
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.
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/FLEMMING SAETHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675