DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I (Figures 2-6) in the reply filed on 1/14/2026 is acknowledged. Applicant asserts that claims 1, 6-8 correspond to the elected embodiment. Claims 2-5, 9, and 10 were withdrawn from consideration.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon (KR 101620974 B1) in view of Lafleur (US 5287636 A).
Regarding claim 1, Kwon discloses a cabinet with a bendable drying device, comprising
a cabinet body (Fig. 8, 10), the cabinet body is composed of a front plate, a rear plate, a top plate, a bottom plate and two side plates (Fig. 8 shows a box-shaped cabinet body), and
at least one storage cavity (Fig. 9, 11) for placing articles is provided in the cabinet, the cabinet body is provided with a dryer (Fig. 3),
the dryer comprises a bracket (outer housing of the dryer), a heater (45) and a fan (53), and the bracket is provided with a first air duct (space within the outer housing) and a first air outlet (42), the heater and the fan are arranged in the first air duct, and a first included angle is formed between the bracket and the cabinet body (Figs. 8, 9 show the dryer orientation relative to the cabinet body; Fig. 8 shows the dryer being parallel to the bottom plate of the cabinet),
so that the bracket can be inserted into shoes (Fig. 4), and hot airflow generated by the fan and the heater flows into the shoes through the first air duct and the first air outlet for drying (Fig. 4).
Kwon fails to disclose:
the bracket comprises a first end and a second end that can rotate or deform relative to each other.
Lafleur teaches a shoe dryer comprising a bracket, wherein the bracket comprises a first end (Fig. 1, 14) and a second end (12) that can rotate or deform relative to each other.
It would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of effective filing of the application to modify Kwon to include a bracket comprising a first end and a second end that can rotate or deform relative to each other. With the modification, the dryer of Kwon would be on the first end of the bracket. The motivation to combine is to provide a stable base to attach the dryer to the cabinet, and to provide a convenient mechanism that can position the dryer in various positions depending on use and shape of footwear (see also Objects of the Invention section in Lafleur).
Regarding claim 6, modified Kwon discloses the cabinet with a bendable drying device according to claim 1, wherein the fan is arranged on the first end (with the modification, the dryer of Kwon would be on the first end of the bracket), the first end is provided with an air inlet (Kwon, 51) at a position corresponding to the fan (Kwon, 53), and the first air duct is provided with a heater (Kwon, 45) downstream of an air flow of the fan.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 8 are 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.
Conclusion
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/JASON LAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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