9DETAILED 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 § 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 6-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Van Der Meulen et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0122717).
Van Der Meulen et al. (hereinafter, Van Der Meulen) discloses an implant configured to contact a portion of a bone (abstract), comprising:
a stem 100 having a proximal section 114 and a distal section 108; and
a porous portion 110 extending a distance along the stem in a longitudinal direction of the stem (e.g., fig. 6).
For claim 2, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 1, further comprising a ridge 114, wherein the porous portion comprises at least two porous portions, wherein the ridge extends along the longitudinal direction of the stem between a first porous portion and a second porous portion of the at least two porous portions (e.g., fig. 20).
For claim 3, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 2, wherein the ridge comprises an apex surface, and the apex surface has an average surface roughness that is lower than an average surface roughness of the porous portion (e.g., fig. 6, ridge is smooth).
For claim 4, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the porous portion is 1 mm or more (para. 52).
For claim 6, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 1, wherein the porous portion comprises titanium (para. 77).
For claim 7, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 1, wherein the porous portion comprises titanium, aluminum and vanadium (para. 77).
For claim 8, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 7, wherein the porous portion comprises Ti-6Al-4V (para. 77).
For claim 9, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the implant is formed by an additive manufacturing process (para. 77)
For claim 10, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 9, wherein the porous portion is formed by the additive manufacturing process (para. 77).
For claim 11, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 1, wherein the porous portion comprises a plurality of pores with a pore size in the range of about 200 nm to about 5 mm (para. 52).
For claim 12, Van Der Meulen discloses the implant of claim 11, wherein the pore size in in the range of about 275 nm to about 1 mm (para. 52).
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.
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Der Meulen et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0122717) in view of Liu et. al (Pub. No.: US 2023/0338615).
For claims 4 and 5, Van Der Meulen fails to specify a thickness of the porous portion of 1mm or more or 3mm or more. Liu et al. (hereinafter, Liu) discloses an prthopedic implant with a porous layer having a thickness of 1mm (para. 23) or 3mm (para. 25) as a suitable thickness for the porous layer. Selection of a thickness of 1mm or 3mm would have occurred using known methods and would have yielded predictable results. This modification would have occurred using known methods and would have yielded new methods.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Der Meulen et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0122717) in view of Trischler et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0058134).
Van Der Meulen lacks pore size in the range of 400nm to 1micron. Trischler et al. (hereinafter, Trischler) teaches a pore size in the range of about 400 nm to about 1µm (para. 47) as a suitable pore size for implantable biomaterial for the purpose of enhancing bone integration and in-growth. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have selected a pore size of 400nm to 1micron as an obvious expedient to select an appropriate pore size for bone ingrowth. This modification would have occurred using known methods and would have yielded new methods.
Conclusion
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/SUBA GANESAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3774
