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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.
Applicant's submission filed on February 18th, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-5 remain pending in the application. Claim 1 is currently amended. Claim 5 is newly added. Applicant' s amendments to the disclosure and claims have overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 previously set forth in the Final Office Action mailed November 20th, 2025.
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 1-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oogose (US 2019/0141972 A1) in view of Umezawa (US 2017/0196211 A1) and Puryear (US 5,217,182).
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Figure 1. Annotated Figure 1 from Oogose
Regarding Claim 1, Oogose, Figures 1-6B and annotated Figure 1 above, teaches a dual-bearing reel 100, comprising:
a spool 10 rotatably supported between a left side plate 7a and a right side plate 7b’ of a reel main body 1 (See Oogose, Para. 0052, Ln. 2-6);
a handle 2 provided on one of the side plates 7a (See Oogose, Para. 0052, Ln. 4-5) to rotationally drive the spool 10 (See Oogose, Para. 0048, Ln. 2-4); and
an adjustment dial 20 provided on a side plate 7b’ on an opposite side of the handle 2 to adjust a braking force with respect to rotation of the spool 10 (See Oogose, Para. 0078, Ln. 8-10), wherein
the side plate 7b’ on the opposite side of the handle 2 rotatably supports the adjustment dial 20 on substantially a same axis as a rotation axis (axis CA; See Oogose, Para. 0071, Ln. 6-7) of the spool 10 (See Oogose, Fig. 2B and 6B), and comprises an opening 17g that exposes an arc region 17g’ above the supported adjustment dial 20 (See Figure 1), and
a cover portion 23 is formed on an upper surface side of the side plate 7b’ on the opposite side of the handle 2 (See Figure 1).
Oogose teaches all the elements of the dual-bearing reel except for the cover portion being integrally formed as a part of the side plate and the cover portion covering, in a plan view of the reel, an outer peripheral surface of the adjustment dial on a front side of the adjustment dial where the arc region is exposed and wherein, in the plan view of the reel, the outer peripheral surface of the adjustment dial on a rear side of the adjustment dial is not covered by the cover portion and is exposed, the outer peripheral surface facing radially outward from the adjustment dial.
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Figure 2. Annotated Figure 1 from Puryear
However, Puryear, Figures 1-15 and annotated Figure 2 above, teaches a cover portion 12b’ that is integrally formed as part of the side plate 12b on the opposite side of the handle 16 and on an upper surface side of the side plate 12b on the opposite side of the handle 16, the cover portion 12b’ covering, in a plan view of the reel 10, an outer peripheral surface 68a of the adjustment dial 68 on a front side 68b of the adjustment dial 68, and wherein, in the plan view of the reel 10, the outer peripheral surface 68a of the adjustment dial 68 on a rear side 68c of the adjustment dial 68 is not covered by the cover portion 12b’ and is exposed, the outer peripheral surface 68a facing radially outward from the adjustment dial 68.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Oogose with an integrally formed cover portion which covers the upper radially outward facing outer peripheral surface of the adjustment dial on a front side of the adjustment dial while exposing the outer peripheral surface on a rear side of the adjustment dial, as taught by Puryear, for the purpose of increasing ease of operation during manual adjustment of the braking force (See Puryear, Col. 1, Ln. 32-34, Col. 2, Ln. 43-46).
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Figure 3. Annotated Figure 1 from Umezawa
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Figure 4. Annotated Figure 2 from Umezawa
Although Puryear does not explicitly disclose the cover portion covering, in a plan view of the reel, an outer peripheral surface of the adjustment dial on a front side of the adjustment dial where the arc region is exposed, Umezawa, Figures 1-2 and annotated Figures 3-4 above, teaches the cover portion 1’ covering, in a plan view of the reel (See Figure 3 above), an outer peripheral surface 45a of the adjustment dial 45 on a front side 45b of the adjustment dial 45 where the arc region 21’ is exposed and wherein, in the plan view of the reel (See Figure 3 above), the outer peripheral surface 45a of the adjustment dial 45 on a rear side 45c of the adjustment dial 45 is not covered by the cover portion 1’ and is exposed, the outer peripheral surface 45a facing radially outward from the adjustment dial 45.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Oogose, Puryear, and Umezawa to provide a cover portion which covers the upper radially outward facing outer peripheral surface of the adjustment dial on a front side of the adjustment dial where the arc region is exposed, as taught by Umezawa, for the purpose of decreasing likelihood of device malfunction (i.e., more of the adjustment dial is shielded from accidental touches while maintaining view of and access to the adjustment dial within the arc region (See Umezawa, Para. 0010, Ln. 1-15).
Regarding Claim 2, Oogose in view of Puryear and Umezawa are advanced above.
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Figure 5. Annotated Figure 2A from Oogose
Oogose, annotated Figure 5 above, teaches wherein the adjustment dial 20 has a rotation axis (axis CA; See Oogose, Para. 0069, Ln. 3-5) that is provided on a rear side of a center line in a front-rear direction of the side plate 7b’ on the opposite side of the handle 2 (See Oogose, Para. 0078, Ln. 1-3).
Regarding Claim 3, Oogose in view of Puryear and Umezawa are advanced above.
Umezawa further teaches wherein the cover portion 1’ covers a range 45’ of the outer peripheral surface 45a of the adjustment dial 45 with the rotation axis 45x of the adjustment dial 45 as a center that is smaller than a range 45’’ in which the cover portion 1’ does not cover the outer peripheral surface 45a of the adjustment dial 45 (See Figure 4 above).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Oogose, Puryear, and Umezawa to provide a cover portion which covers a range of the radially outward facing outer peripheral surface of the adjustment dial smaller than it exposes, as taught by Umezawa, for the purpose of decreasing likelihood of device malfunction (i.e., the adjustment dial is shielded from accidental touches while maintaining sufficient view of and access to the adjustment dial) (See Umezawa, Para. 0010, Ln. 1-15).
Regarding Claim 5, Oogose in view of Puryear and Umezawa are advanced above.
Oogose further teaches wherein the front side of the adjustment dial 20 is positioned farther toward a front side of the reel 100 than the rear side of the adjustment dial 20.
Puryear further teaches wherein the reel 10 further comprises (i) a clutch lever 166 that actuates a clutch mechanism 140 (See Puryear, Col. 7, Ln. 10-14) coupled to the spool 18 (See Puryear, Col. 6, Ln. 49-55) and is located at a rear side of the reel 10, and (ii) a fishing line guide 58 that is located at a front side of the reel 10, wherein the front side of the adjustment dial 68 is positioned farther toward a front side of the reel 10 than the rear side of the adjustment dial 68.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Oogose with a clutch lever, a clutch mechanism, and a fishing line guide, as taught by Puryear, for the purpose of allowing the spool to rotate in a handle driven state as well as a free-spooling state and for guiding the fishing line to and from the spool within a traversing level wind mechanism (See Puryear, Col. 2, Ln. 12-36).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oogose (US 2019/0141972 A1) in view of Umezawa (US 2017/0196211 A1) and Puryear (US 5,217,182), as applied to claims 1-3 and 5 above, and further in view of Murayama (JP H09154450A).
Regarding Claim 4, Oogose in view of Puryear and Umezawa are advanced above.
Oogose in view of Puryear and Umezawa teach all the elements of the dual-bearing reel except for wherein when a height from a position of the rotation axis of the adjustment dial to a highest position of the side plate on the opposite side of the handle is H, and a height from the position of the rotation axis of the adjustment dial to a lowest position where the adjustment dial is exposed is h, the opening is formed to satisfy 0.2H< h <0.4H.
However, Murayama, Figure 1, teaches a dimensional relationship (15%< W2/W1 <90%) between portions of the reel body relative to each other (See Murayama, Para. 0024, Ln. 6-10) which define an opening for the thumb to apply braking to the spool (See Murayama, Para. 0017, Ln. 1-3).
Although the measurements are not taken relative to a rotation axis of an adjustment dial and the braking mechanism is actuated using a lever instead of a dial, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Oogose in view of Puryear and Umezawa with a dimensional relationship between components which impacts the dimensions of an opening used to access a control mechanism for the braking mechanism, as taught by Murayama, for the purpose of increasing ease of operation of the braking mechanism (See Murayama, Para. 0024, Ln. 10-13). In light of the prior art’s acknowledgement for a need to limit the upper and lower bounds of the ratio of component dimensions due to increased difficulty of operation outside of a range, it would have been obvious to try a range of dimensions to determine appropriate bounds for a given design.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, see Pg. 4-5, filed February 18th, 2026, have been fully considered.
Regarding the rejection of Claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103, Applicant has amended the claim. The amendments are sufficient to overcome the previously set forth rejection. Therefore, this rejection has been withdrawn. However, a new ground of rejection has been set forth under 35 U.S.C. 103 based on the amended claim.
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.
Oogose in view of Puryear and Umezawa are utilized in the current rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 (See Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 above).
Regarding the rejections of Claims 2-4, the claims are dependents of rejected claim 1 and Applicant has provided no additional arguments. Therefore, these claims are also rejected based on the new ground of rejection presented above.
Regarding newly added Claim 5, the claim is a dependent of rejected claim 1, and Applicant has provided no additional arguments. Therefore, these claims are also rejected based on the new ground of rejection presented above. Additionally, a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 has been made for additional limitations outlined in claim 5.
Conclusion
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/T.D.J./Examiner, Art Unit 3654
/SCOTT A BROWNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666
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