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 Amendments
The Examiner acknowledges the amendments. The previous rejections are withdrawn. New rejections are set forth herein and are made final.
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 1, 2, and 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grether (US D542,105S) in view of Vines (US 2008/0066584).
Regarding claim 1, Gerther discloses an aerator accessory, wherein:
the accessory comprises a handle (Item A) having a main body and a plurality of connecting joints surrounding the main body, a top end and a bottom of each connecting joint respectively connected to a socket with a respective diameter, wherein the diameters of the sockets are different, an axial direction of each socket extending from the top end to the bottom end (best shown in Figure 6);
each socket comprising an opening end and an inner sidewall, and one opening end of at least one of the sockets has a first fastening portion with a plurality of engaging teeth disposed evenly around the opening end (Item B);
one inner sidewall of at least one of the sockets has a second fastening portion with two opposite parallel tangent planes (Item C); and
one inner sidewall of at least another socket has a third fastening portion comprising at least two fastening grooves on the inner sidewall (Item D).
Grether fails to explicitly disclose a third fastening portion comprising at least two fastening grooves on the inner sidewall extending in the inner sidewall along the axial direction.
Vines teaches an accessory tool wherein a socket has at least two fastening grooves on the inner sidewall extending in the inner sidewall along the axial direction (Items 16 or Items 8, 18, and 20). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify a socket of Grether to have the grooves as taught by Vines. Such a modification would allow a user to fit a variety of nuts and other threaded fasteners to easily tighten and loosen the fasteners without the need for additional tools (Paragraphs 10-11)
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Regarding claim 2, Gerther in view of Vines disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the handle is a plane body (best shown in Figure 6).
Regarding claim 4, Gerther in view of Vines disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first fastening portion comprises six engaging teeth ringed around the opening end of the socket (best shown on Figures 7 on the left).
Regarding claim 5, Gerther in view of Vines disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first fastening portion comprises eight engaging teeth ringed around the opening end (Figures 7 on the bottom).
Regarding claim 6, Gerther in view of Vines disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third fastening portion comprises two tapered fastening grooves (Vines Item 16 is at least two tapered grooves best shown in Figure 5).
Regarding claim 7, Gerther in view of Vines disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third fastening portion comprises a plurality of fastening grooves ringed around the inner peripheral wall (Vines Figure 5).
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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grether (US D542,105S) in view of Vines (US 2008/0066584) in view of Correa (US D575,122S).
Regarding claim 3, Gerther discloses the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1. Gerther fails to explicitly disclose further comprising five connecting joints arranged radially around the handle.
Correa teaches a multitool with at least five connecting joints arranged radially around the handle (Figure 1). 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 number of connecting joints around the handle to include a fifth joint as taught by Correa. Such a modification would allow another size of socket to be incorporated to the faucet tool of Gerther, thus allowing the user the ability to have another tool on the multi tool for added convenience. This is beneficial since there are several different fitting sizes and styles and the combinations between the common fittings and styles is limitless.
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 TOM R RODGERS whose telephone number is (313)446-4849. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8AM-5PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Posigian can be reached at (313) 446-6546. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TOM RODGERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723