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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1 and 3-9 in the reply filed on 12/18/2025 is acknowledged.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 9 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 9 recites the limitation "the spatial location" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1, 3 ,4 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sato (US Pat. No.: 4,335,172) (hereinafter Sato).
Regarding claim 1, Sato anticipates a method of fabricating an adhesive system comprising: providing a strip structure comprising a sandwiched inextensible layer and elastic layer (Fig. 3, Col 4, Ln 10-18); creating alternating patterned cut (Fig. 2, RC 8) and unpatterned interconnecting regions along the length of the strip (Fig. 2; Longitudinal region between RC 8) by, in each patterned cut region, making a cut through the thickness of the strip structure in at least one sub-region between opposite lateral edges of the strip structure (Fig. 5; Col 4, Ln 38-44)), the cut being non-linear relative the lateral axis between opposite lateral edges of the strip and including opposite cut termination points along a hinge line (Fig. 2-3 -notice the hinge line created near the tonge line); and an intermediate non-linear cut section between the opposite cut termination points (Fig. 2, RC 8) that does not cross the hinge line between opposite termination points of the cut; the opposite cut termination points and the intermediate non-linear cut section defining a flap area (Notice the depiction below).
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387
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Regarding claim 3, Sato anticipates a plurality of sub-regions for each patterned cut region.
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224
414
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Regarding claim 4, Sato anticipates each of the plurality of sub-regions includes a non-liner cut (Fig. 2 -notice the U-shaped cut).
Regarding claim 5, Sato anticipates each of a subset of the plurality of sub-regions includes a non-liner cut (Fig. 2 -notice the U-shaped cut).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VISHAL I PATEL whose telephone number is (571)270-7660. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9-5.
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/VISHAL I PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1746