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 .
Drawings
The drawings were received on September 27, 2023. These drawings are acceptable.
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, 5-7, 9-14 and 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lemke (US 5,732,645) in view of Long (US 11,760,448).
Lemke discloses a marine fender assembly, as shown in Figures 1-8, which is comprised of a flexible sheet, defined as Part #20, a pair of slots or openings, each defined as Part #36, that are disposed near a top edge of said flexible sheet, a pair of fastening straps or cords, each defined as Part #38, that are attached to said flexible sheet through said pair of slots or openings, a pair of adjustment buckles, each defined as Part #40, that are disposed on said pair of fastening straps or cords for adjusting a length of said pair of fastening straps or cords, a pair of snap connectors, each defined as Part #52, that are disposed on said pair of fastening straps or cords for attaching said marine fender assembly to a rail, defined as Part #16, of a boat, defined as Part #10, as shown in Figures 1 and 4, and one or more weights or ballast, defined as Part #56, that is disposed along a bottom edge of said flexible sheet. Said flexible sheet can also be configured to have an inner layer, defined as Part #20A, that contacts a hull of said boat, and an outer layer, defined as Part #20B, as shown in Figure 8. Said flexible sheet can be made from a low friction polymeric material, polyvinyl chloride copolymer, or polyester scrim, as described in lines 21-29 of column 6.
Lemke, as set forth above, discloses all of the features claimed except for the use of a plurality of suction cups for removably holding a watercraft fender to a hull of a boat.
Long discloses a watercraft fender, as shown in Figures 1-5, which is comprised of a fender body, defined as Part #104, a pair of holes that are disposed near a top edge of said fender body, a pair of adjustable length straps or cords, defined as Parts #108A-B, which can be adjusted with knots, as is well known in the art, and a pair of suction cups, defined as Parts #106A-B, that are each disposed on one of said pair of adjustable length straps or cords for the attachment of said fender body to a hull of a boat, defined as Part #102, as shown in Figure 1. Said pair of holes are each surrounded by a reinforcement material or grommet, as shown in Figure 2, as is well known in the art.
The use of a marine fender assembly with a flexible sheet or fender body made from a specific material would be considered by one of ordinary skill in the art to be an obvious design choice based upon the required strength and the desired physical characteristics of said material.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art, to utilize a plurality of suction cups to removably hold a fender body to a hull of a boat, as taught by Long, in combination with the marine fender assembly as disclosed by Lemke for the purpose of providing an apparatus for protecting a watercraft with means to facilitate the removable attachment of said apparatus to a hull of said watercraft.
Claims 8, 15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lemke in view of Long, and further in view of Kinkead (US 5,697,316).
Lemke in combination with Long shows all of the features claimed except for the use of a marine fender assembly with suction cups that are directly connected to a flexible sheet.
Kinkead discloses a boat bumper, as shown in Figures 1-6, which is comprised of a bumper, defined as Part #20, with a flexible plate or sheet, defined as Part #22, and a plurality of suction cups, defined as Parts #38 and 48, that are connected to said flexible plate or sheet for removably holding said flexible plate or sheet to a hull, defined as Part #36, of a boat, as shown in Figures 1-3. At least one of said plurality of suction cups, defined as Part #38, is directly connected to said flexible plate or sheet, as shown in Figures 1-3. Figure 6 demonstrates that at least two of said plurality of suction cups are directly connectable to said flexible plate or sheet.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art, to utilize a plurality of suction cups that are directly connected to a flexible sheet of a boat bumper, as taught by Kinkead, in combination with the marine fender assembly as disclosed by Lemke and the teachings of Long for the purpose of providing an apparatus for protecting a watercraft with means to facilitate the removable attachment of said apparatus to a hull of said watercraft.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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 LARS A OLSON whose telephone number is (571) 272-6685. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 8:00am - 4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MARC JIMENEZ can be reached at 571-272-4530. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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February 12, 2026
/LARS A OLSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615B