OFFICE ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Applicant filed new claims 1–20 on 5/31/2023. Claims 1–20 are pending. Claims 1–11 are examined below. Claims 12–20 are withdrawn from consideration.
Election of Species
Applicant’s election without traverse of species I in the reply filed on 1/14/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 12–201 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 1/14/2026.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
Drawings
The replacement drawings were received on 7/12/2023. These drawings are approved for entry.
Claim Objections
Claims 1–11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, p. 2, the claim concludes by describing the target plate as “having a pair of hanging post receiving holes”. However, these holes are depicted and disclosed as receiving connecting posts rather than hanging posts. It is noted that the scope of any named holes in the claims without more will be interpreted to require no more than simply “holes”.
Claim 2, page 3, line 6, “said bracket such” should be replaced with “said brackets such”.
Claims dependent of these claim inherit the claim objections.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 3, 5–6 and 8–9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 3 and 8, the term “durable” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Claim 5 is tied to a user’s choice of location and therefore includes a step of using the apparatus (a user faces particular direction(s)) rather than solely claiming the apparatus itself.
See MPEP 2173.05(p)(II), In re Katz Interactive Call Processing Patent Litigation, 639 F.3d 1303, 1318, 97 USPQ2d 1737, 1748-49 (Fed. Cir. 2011) and IPXL Holdings v. Amazon.com, Inc., 430 F.3d 1377, 1384, 77 USPQ2d 1140, 1145 (Fed. Cir. 2005).
Claim 6, it is not clear what the scope of the additional configurations are. The parent claim already sets forth hanging slots with the rod being disposed in the slots.
Claim 9, it is not clear what the scope of the additional configuration is. The parent claim already sets forth the target plate as having a generally flat shape.
Claims dependent of these claim inherit the claim rejections.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEFFREY D CARLSON whose telephone number is (571) 272-6716. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30 am to 5:00 pm, off 1st Fri.
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/JEFFREY D CARLSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
1 As stated in the election requirement: “It appears that claims 13–20 should depend from claim 12 rather than claim 3. These dependent claims include features from species II and would be subject to 112 (a) and/or (b) rejections accordingly for mixing limitations with mutually exclusive species I. Applicant should consider amending claims 13-20 to depend from claim 12 to establish consistency with the disclosure, or cancelling them if species I is elected.”