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 .
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 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sakakibara, et al. (JP2019073185A).
Sakakibara discloses a console box comprising a box body 10 including a storage 10a that has an upper opening (Figure 6); and a lid 30 detachably coupled to the box body and configured to open and close the upper opening, wherein the lid includes an additional function portion that allows a user to use the lid in a manner that is different from the opening and closing of the upper opening. The upper opening is opened when the lid is detached from the box body, the lid includes a lid body and an attachment portion 12, 16 disposed on one surface of the lid body in a thickness direction, the additional function portion includes the attachment portion 12, 16, and the attachment portion is configured such that a leg 32 is attachable to and detachable from the attachment portion.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-18 allowed.
Claims 2-4 and 6-13 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The prior art recited discloses common inventive concepts as the claimed present invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Faye M. Fleming whose telephone number is (571)272-6672. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30am-5:00pm.
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/FAYE M FLEMING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3614