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 .
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 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) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shaver (US 11008082) in view of Boyer et al (US 2012/0052754) in view of Scott (US 2008/0254691). With respect to claims 1-2, Shaver discloses the basic claimed structure including a detachable paddle with a main paddle rod 12, 14, a first detachable paddle rod 34, a second detachable paddle rod 36. Not disclosed by Shaver is the connecting part in the form of a lantern ring and a water drop cross sectional shape. Boyer et al teach a paddle rod connection in the form of a lantern ring (Figure 1) and Scott teaches a water drop shape (paragraph 0033). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the device of Shaver with a lantern ring connection as taught by Boyer et al with a high likelihood of success for ease of storage and to form the rods of a water drop shape as taught by Scott with a high likelihood of success to minimize stress and reduce fatigue of a user. The combination combines known features to achieve predictable results. Further, it is noted that a person of ordinary skill in the art of designing paddles would have some years of experience and would be familiar with various paddle connection systems and shapes. Such a person would have found the combination to have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 3-7 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. WU (CN 113148090 A) show a lantern ring connector.
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STEPHEN AVILA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3617
/STEPHEN P AVILA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615