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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: In line 10, the word “positioned” should be changed to “position”. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (WO 2019198968). Kim discloses a wagon assembly (See Figure 22) comprising a wagon frame including a bottom frame (110), a handle (120) rotatable relative to the bottom frame (See Figure 22); a linkage (See annotated Figure 22 below) that slides relative to the handle at a first end of the linkage, and rotates relative to the bottom frame (See annotated Figure 22 below), wherein the linkage enables a storage mode by allowing at least approximately 180 degrees of rotation. Although Kim does not explicitly show the handle rotating 180 degrees, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in this art at the time of filing to enable the handle in Kim to rotate approximately 180 degrees in order for a person to push or pull the wagon with the handle from either side of the wagon.
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Regarding claim 17, Kim discloses wherein the first end of the linkage includes a hollow portion that surrounds a first portion of the handle, the handle configured to slide within the hollow portion (See Figure 22).
Regarding claim 18, although not shown explicitly, the hollow portion would be substantially parallel to the bottom frame when the wagon assembly is in the storage mode. The handle in Kim is configurable to rotated until the handle is parallel with the bottom frame (110), wherein the hollow portion would be substantially parallel to the bottom frame as well.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-15 are allowed over the closest prior art references.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claim 1, the closest prior art references do not disclose “a first linkage having a first end slidably coupled to the first side of the handle and second linkage having a first end slidably coupled to a second side of the handle, the first linkage and second linkage having a second end rotatably coupled to the wagon frame at a position below the bottom frame; and a rod positioned below the bottom frame and extending between the first and the second linkage. Regarding claim 8, the closest prior art references do not disclose “a linkage, with a first end of the linkage connected to the handle and a second end of the linkage secured to the bottom frame position, wherein the linkage is movable along a length of the handle, the linkage having a curved body between the first end and the second end, the curved body curving away from the first wheel when the handle is at least in one handle position within the plurality of handle positions.”
Claims 19 and 20 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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J. ALLEN SHRIVER II
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3613
/JAMES A SHRIVER II/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3613
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