DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the applicant’s remarks filed on 6/30/2026.
Claims 8-9 are amended and claims 21-22 are newly added claims.
Claims 1-8,10-19, 21-22 are pending in this present application.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 11-12, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Eiattrache et al U.S 2014/0277134.
Claim 11: Eiattrache et al disclose a surgical method as best seen in figures 14, 17,25-28 comprising: loading a reinforcement suture 180 through a cannulation of an interference screw 10/120; inserting the interference screw 10/120 within a bone tunnel of a bone 193, wherein inserting the interference screw 10/120 traps a graft 170 between the bone 193 and the interference screw; tensioning the reinforcement suture 180 in a first direction; and locking the reinforcement suture within the cannulation to prevent movement in a second direction (see paragraphs 50-51, 67-69).
Claim 12: Eiattrache et al disclose wherein a thread of the interference screw 10/120 externally fixates the graft 170.
Claim 18: Eiattrache et al disclose a surgical method as best seen in figures 14, 17, 25-28, comprising: inserting an interference screw 10/120 into a bone tunnel of a bone 193, wherein the interference screw 10/120 externally fixates a graft 170 relative to the bone 193 and internally locks a reinforcement suture relative to the bone (see paragraphs 50-51, 67-69).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8, 10, 22 allowed over the arts of record.
Claims 13-17,19,21 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 9-12, filed on 6/30/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-10 under 35 U.S.C 103 over Crook in view of To have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, that rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Eiattrache et al for claims 11,12,18 .
Conclusion
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/VI X NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3771
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