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 .
This is a non-final Office action responsive to the reply filed on 08/14/2026.
Claim 1 has been amended.
Claims 2 and 13-15 have been canceled.
Claims 1, 3-12 and 16-21 are pending.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 08/14/2026 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 3, 5, 7, 11 and 16 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 3, line 3 “a first slider” should be - - the first slider - -.
Claim 5, line 3 “a second slider” should be - - the second slider - -.
Claim 7, line 3 “a second slider” should be - - the second slider - -.
Claim 11, line 2 “a first slider” should be - - the first slider - -.
Claim 11, line 3 “a second slider” should be - - the second slider - -.
Claim 16, line 4 “the suspension axis” should be - - a suspension axis - -.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 1, 3-12, 16, 17 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rhett, Jr. (US Patent No. 8,936,034), in view of Frazer et al. (US Patent No. 9,968,178), and Scheid (DE 10 2014 116 104 cited by applicant).
Regarding claim 1, Rhett, Jr. discloses a hammock assembly, comprising:
a zipper fastener (26) having a first tape section and second tape section corresponding to the first tape section (see annotated Fig. 1 and Col. 3, lines 56-58);
a hammock having a hammock body with the first tape section attached to an edge thereof (see annotated Fig. 1); and
a cover having a body with the second tape section attached to an edge thereof, the cover removably attachable to the hammock by connecting the first tape section and the second tape section (see annotated Fig. 1).
Rhett, Jr. does not disclose the cover removably attachable to the hammock in a plurality of different orientations to correlate to various orientational configurations of the hammock body, and the zipper fastener includes a first slider and a second slider independently movable along the first tape section and the second tape section, wherein movement of the first slider and the second slider creates a passageway between the hammock and the cover that is variable in both length and position.
However, Frazer et al. teaches the cover removably attachable to the hammock in a plurality of different orientations to correlate to various orientational configurations of the hammock body (see Col. 6, lines 38-44; also, first orientational configurations of the hammock body with the combination of (112), (115) and (119), and second orientational configurations of the hammock body with the combination of (113), (114) and (120), see Fig. 6).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the zipper fastener from Rhett, Jr. with zippers on the perimeter of the netting, the cover, and the hammock portion as taught by Frazer et al., to be able to secure the cover or netting to the hammock in a reversible or different orientations.
Also, Scheid teaches the zipper fastener (1) includes a first slider (6) and a second slider (16) independently movable along the first tape section and the second tape section, wherein movement of the first slider (6) and the second slider (16) creates a passageway (3) between the hammock and the cover that is variable in both length and position (see Fig. 1-4).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the zipper fastener from Rhett, Jr. with two sliders, one on each end of the zipper fastener as taught by Scheid, in order for the user to open or close the zipper from either ends, and allow the user to enter or exit the enclosed space.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the first tape section (II) has a first set of fastener elements (5) extending along a length thereof, a first retainer box (7b) positioned at a first end of the first set of fastener elements (5), and a first slider (6) movably attached to the first tape section (II) and engageable with the first retainer box (7b) (see Figs. 1 and 3 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the second tape section (I) has a second set of fastener elements (4) extending along a length thereof and engageable with the first set of fastener elements (5) and a first retainer pin (7a) positioned at a first end of the second set of fastener elements (4) and corresponding to the first retainer box (7b) and the first slider (6) (see Figs. 1 and 3 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the first tape section (II) has a second retainer box (17b) positioned at an opposite second end of the first set of fastener elements (5) and a second slider (16) movably attached to the first tape section (II) and engageable with the second retainer box (17b) (see Figs. 3 and 4 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the second tape section (I) has a second retainer pin (17a) positioned at an opposite second end of the second set of fastener elements (4) that is positioned opposite the first retainer pin (7a), the second retainer pin (17a) corresponding to the second retainer box (17b) and the second slider (16) (see Figs. 3 and 4 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the second tape section (I) has a second retainer box (17b) positioned at an opposite second end of the second set of fastener elements (4) and a second slider (16) movably attached to the second tape section (I) and engageable with the second retainer box (17b) (see Figs. 1 and 2 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the first tape section (II) has a second retainer pin (17a) positioned at an opposite second end of the first set of fastener elements (5) and corresponding to the second retainer box (17b) and the second slider (16) (see Figs. 1 and 2 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the first tape section (I) has a first set of fastener elements (4) extending along a length thereof, a first retainer pin (7a) positioned at a first end of the first set of fastener elements (4), and a second retainer pin (17a) positioned at an opposite second end of the first set of fastener elements (4) (see Figs. 3 and 4 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the second tape section (II) has a second set of fastener elements (5) extending along a length thereof and engageable with the first set of fastener elements (4), a first retainer box (7b) positioned at a first end of the second set of fastener elements (5), and a second retainer box (17b) positioned at an opposite second end of the second set of fastener elements (5) (see Figs. 3 and 4 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the second tape section (II) has a first slider (6) movably attached to the second tape section (II) and engageable with the first retainer box (7b) and a second slider (16) movably attached to the second tape section (II) and engageable with the second retainer box (17b) (see Figs. 3 and 4 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the first retainer pin (7a) corresponds to the first retainer box (7b) and the first slider (6) and the second retainer pin (17a) corresponds to the second retainer box (17b) and the second slider (16) (see Figs. 3 and 4 from Scheid).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein a suspension system provides the various orientational configurations of the hammock body, the suspension system includes a central suspension line extending between a plurality of suspension devices and tensioned along the suspension axis (see annotated Fig. 1) (first orientational configurations of the hammock body with the combination of (112), (115) and (119), and second orientational configurations of the hammock body with the combination of (113), (114) and (120), see Fig. 6 from Frazer).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Rhett, Jr. in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid discloses, wherein the central suspension line supports the cover along a longitudinal axis of the cover to crease an enclosable space between the hammock and the cover (see annotated Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 21, Rhett, Jr. discloses, wherein the body is formed of only a netting material (20) (see annotated Fig. 1).
Claims 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rhett, Jr. (US Patent No. 8,936,034), in view of Frazer et al. (US Patent No. 9,968,178), and Scheid (DE 10 2014 116 104 cited by applicant) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Setterholm (US Patent No. 4,057,859 cited by applicant).
Regarding claim 18, Rhett, Jr. as modified by Frazer et al., and Scheid does not disclose the body is formed of a first material and a second material.
However, Setterholm teaches the body (15, 48) is formed of a first material (woven nylon) and a second material (screen) (see col. 4, lines 1-9).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the hammock from Rhett, Jr, with a body that has two materials and one of the materials is a screen as taught by Setterholm for ventilation and insect protection.
Regarding claim 19, Rhett, Jr. as modified by Frazer et al., and Scheid does not disclose the first material is formed of nylon, cotton, silk, polyester, polypropylene, polyethylene, or polytetrafluoroethylene, and the second material is a netting material.
However, Setterholm teaches the first material (15) is formed of nylon (woven nylon) (see col. 4, lines 7-9), and the second material (43) is a netting material (screen) (col. 4, lines 27-30).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the hammock from Rhett, Jr, to have the first material to protect the user from precipitation and the second material to permit the occupant to breathe through the sleeping surface without dissipating heat as taught by Setterholm.
Regarding claim 20, Rhett, Jr. discloses, wherein the second material (netting (20)) constitutes a sufficient percentage of the body to permit adequate ventilation from an enclosed space between the hammock and the cover (see annotated Fig. 4C).
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Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 6-8, filed 08/14/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Rhett, Jr., in view of Frazer et al., and Scheid.
Scheid teaches the zipper fastener includes a first slider and a second slider independently movable along the first tape section and the second tape section, wherein movement of the first slider and the second slider creates a passageway between the hammock and the cover that is variable in both length and position (see Figs. 1-4).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LOUIS A MERCADO whose telephone number is (571)270-5388. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/LOUIS A. MERCADO/
Examiner
Art Unit 3677
/JASON W SAN/SPE, Art Unit 3677
Prosecution Insights