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.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fleming (US 11,029,038 B2), hereinafter Fleming, in view of McDaniel (CA 2722557 A1), hereinafter McDaniel.
Regarding claim 1,
Fleming discloses a stove top shelf, comprising: a support member (Support Structure 10) made of a rigid material, the support member (Support Structure 10) comprising at least one horizontally arranged support plane (Planar Support Surface 16) and a first lip (Forward Lip 18) and a second lip (Rear Lip 20), arranged along two edges of the support plane (Planar Support Surface 16), wherein the first lip (Forward Lip 18) extends upwardly along an upper end face of the support plane, and the second lip (Rear Lip 20) extend in opposite directions and in different planes with respect to the first lip (Forward Lip 20); at least one magnet (Magnets 28) is disposed on the surface of each of the second lip (Rear Lip), the third lip and the fourth lip, thus enabling the support member to be attached to the opposite surface of an appliance (Appliance 12) (Figures 2, 3, Column 2, Lines 33-67)
Fleming does not disclose a third lip and a fourth lip arranged along the other two edges of the support plane.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the stove shelf of Fleming wherein a third lip and a fourth lip are arranged along the other two edges of the support plane as taught by McDaniel. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification as adding a pair of lips to Fleming prevents the shelf from moving side to side therefore making it more stable.
Regarding claim 2,
Fleming and McDaniel disclose the stove top shelf of claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1).
McDaniel further discloses wherein the end faces, in contact with the support plane (Top Surface 135) of the second lip (Rear Frame Portion 130c), the third lip (Left Frame Portion 130d) and the fourth lip (Right Frame Portion 130b) are provided with convex lips extending upwards, thus enabling the support plane (Top Surface 135) to be concave with respect to the convex lips (Figure 1).
Based on figure 4 in the application, concave is not used to mean rounded, but rather to have a cavity. This aligns with the teachings of Fleming and McDaniel.
Regarding claim 3,
Fleming and McDaniel disclose the stove top shelf of claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1).
McDaniel further discloses wherein the first lip (Front Frame Portion 130a) and the second lip (Rear Frame Portion 130c) as well as the third lip (Left Frame Portion 130d) and the fourth lip (Right Frame Portion 130b) each extend from opposite edges of the support plane (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 4,
Fleming and McDaniel disclose the stove top shelf of claim 3 (see rejection of claim 3).
Fleming further discloses wherein the first lip (Forward Lip 18) and the second lip (Rear Lip 20)have the same or different lengths (Column 2, Lines 33-54).
Regarding claim 5,
Fleming and McDaniel disclose the stove top shelf of claim 3 (see rejection of claim 3).
McDaniel further discloses wherein the third lip (Left Frame Portion 130d) and the fourth lip (Right Frame Portion 130b) have the same length (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 6,
Fleming and McDaniel disclose the stove top shelf of claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1).
Fleming further discloses wherein a magnet (Magnets 28) is disposed on the surface (Metal Surface 26 of Appliance 12 and Lower Surface 24 of Support Surface 16), attached to the support member, of the appliance (Appliance 12) (Column 1, Lines 53-58, Column 2, Lines 54-67).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lam et al (US 2021/0372693 A1) discloses a four lip shelf for an appliance. Carter (US 675,714 A) discloses a foldable stove shelf including a bracket. Possons (US 1,082,443 A) discloses a detachable stove shelf. Soults (US 1,706,466 A) discloses an attachable shelf for stoves.
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/FREDERICA V FINNEY-LONG/Examiner, Art Unit 3762 09/03/2025
/STEVEN B MCALLISTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3762