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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/26/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-3 and 8-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shenzhen (WO 2017080011, as cited by Applicant).
Examiner’s Note: It has been held that a recitation italicized with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus satisfying the claimed structural limitations. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (1987).
As for Claim 1, Shenzhen discloses a wristwatch comprising a watch case (10) and a bracelet strap (20) comprising:
a strap portion (20);
at least one connecting element (21) connected inseparably to said strap portion;
at least one adaptation link (31) detachably connected to said at least one connecting element, and connected, by means of a semi-permanent fixing (34), to the watch case (10) (Figs. 2 and 3);
said at least one adaptation link including a locking and/or unlocking buttons (321) intended, when actuated, to bring the adaptation link from a locked position, in which said at least one connecting element is locked to the adaptation link (see Figs. 4-5), into an unlocked position, in which said at least one connecting element can be disconnected from the adaptation link (see Fig. 4), the locking and/or unlocking button being hidden when the bracelet strap is being worn (see Figs. 1 and 5-6).
2. The wristwatch as claimed in claim 1, wherein the strap portion is either a strap portion formed completely or partly from a flexible material, or a strap portion made up of articulated links (see Fig. 4).
3. The wristwatch as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one element and the at least one adaptation link are connected to one another removably by means of a male portion (321) inserted into a female opening (313), said locking and/or unlocking button making it possible to prevent the male portion from being extracted from said female opening when said at least one adaptation link is in the locked position, and allowing this extraction when said at least one adaptation link is in the unlocked position (see Figs. 5-6).
8. The wristwatch as claimed in claim 3, wherein the or each adaptation link comprises a housing (housing of 31, see Fig. 3) and wherein the locking and/or unlocking button (321) is in the form of a pushbutton arranged inside the housing of the or of each adaptation link so that it can move therein when the or each adaptation link is brought from the locked position to the unlocked position (see Figs. 4-6).
9. The wristwatch as claimed in claim 8, wherein the or each adaptation link comprises, on one side, a passage (311) communicating with the housing, the or each pushbutton comprising a mobile body (body of 321) and an elastic member (33) arranged in the housing to collaborate with the mobile body (see Fig. 3), said mobile body comprising the female opening (312 and 315), and wherein at least one connecting element, is connected inseparably to said strap portion (see Figs. 3-6) and is or are designed to be introduced into the passage and the female opening of the or of each corresponding adaptation link so as to lock said strap portion to the watch case without the need to actuate the pushbutton or pushbuttons (see Fig. 5).
10. The wristwatch as claimed in claim 9, wherein the mobile body has a tooth (tooth of 323) arranged facing the passages, the or each connecting element comprising a hook (hook defined by 211/212) engaging with the tooth in the locked position (see Fig. 6), actuation of the pushbutton allowing the tooth to disengage from the hook so that said strap portion of the bracelet strap can be disconnected (see Figs. 4-6).
11. The wristwatch as claimed in claim 1, wherein said strap portion comprises a plurality of links of a first type (links defined on one strap portion 20) and a plurality of links of a second type (links defined on the other strap portion 20), the or each adaptation link being substantially indistinguishable from said links of the second type when the bracelet strap is being worn (see Fig 2).
12. The wristwatch as claimed in claim 11, the links of the first type having an appearance (see Fig. 2), that are substantially identical to one another, the links of the second type having an appearance (see Fig. 2), that are substantially uniform in relation to one another, the or each adaptation link having an appearance, that is substantially identical to that of the links of the second type when the bracelet strap is being worn (see Fig. 2).
13. (Currently amended) The wristwatch comprising claimed in claim 1, wherein said semi-permanent fixing is in the form of a bar (341) extending through a transverse hole (13) provided in said at least one adaptation link.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 14 is 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/16/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to Applicant’s argument that Shenzhen fails to disclose the at least one adaption link and a semi-permanent fixing, as disclosed in claim 1, Examiner respectfully disagrees and discloses the claimed structure as disclosed in claim 1 in the rejection provided herein.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID M UPCHURCH whose telephone number is (571)270-7957. The examiner can normally be reached 6AM-3PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jason San can be reached at (571)272-6531. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID M UPCHURCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3677
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