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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim 1 is 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the proximal end of the caulking gun" in lines 8-9. It is unclear if the Applicant is intending to refer back to the proximal end of the barrel or is adding an additional proximal end of the overall caulking gun. Thus, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyata (US Patent No. 4,669,636).
Re: Claim 1, Miyata discloses the claimed invention including a caulking gun comprising: a barrel (30) from which caulk is selectively dispensable, the barrel having a longitudinal axis (Fig. 1); the barrel having a proximal end (8) from which the user may dispense mastic or caulking from the barrel by suitable manipulation of a mechanism (3) located at such proximal end; the barrel having a distal end (33) from which the mastic exits upon suitable application (Fig. 1), the distal end located at the opposite end of the longitudinal axis of the barrel (Fig. 1); wherein a hanger is rotatably mounted to a mounting plate at the proximal end of the caulking gun (Annotated Fig. 1, mounting plate with strap hanger which is capable of being rotated due to its loop connection to the plate and its art recognized flexible material depicted in Figs. 1, 3, and 11 flexed in different manners); wherein the hanger is suitably configured to be axially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the barrel when in a deployed position; wherein the hanger may be rotated to a stowed position in which the hanger clears the barrel of the caulking gun; wherein the hanger includes a plurality of portions configured to be at angles which are transverse to the longitudinal axis gun (Annotated Fig. 1, strap hanger may be rotated around the barrel such that it clears the barrel and the plurality of portions are capable of being configured at different angles due to the looped nature and flexible material of the hanger).
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Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. References cited on the PTO-892 provide additional examples of hanger-like structures used with tools.
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/CHARLES P. CHEYNEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754