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 .
Claims 1-15 have been examined.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 3-6, 13, and 14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, Line 8: “support rods” should be changed to --support poles--.
Claim 3, Line 1: It appears as if claim 3 should depend from Claim 2 as Claim 2 initially sets forth “the accommodating chamber”.
Claims 3-6: Claim 2 sets forth “at least one accommodating chamber”, whereas claims 3-6 set forth “the accommodating chamber” which does not have proper antecedent basis.
Claim 13, Line 3: There is no antecedent basis for “the backboard”.
Claim 14: There is no antecedent basis for “the basket”, “the backboard”, “the front side”, or “the back side”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (US Patent Application Publication 2005/0255946) in view of Swingle et al (US Patent Application Publication 2013/0040762).
1. Liu discloses a basketball stand (Fig 7) comprising:
a main pole (31) having a top end and a bottom end; and
a base assembly (40; Fig 5B) installed on a bottom side of the main pole, and having at least three support poles (See Examiner's Figure), at least three connecting rods (See Examiner's Figure), at least three support pads (See Examiner's Figure) and at least three weight blocks (50), wherein:
the support poles are annularly disposed around the main pole at intervals, a bottom end of each of the support poles is capable of expanding outwardly or retracting inwardly (Figs 5A-5B);
the connecting rods respectively correspond to the support rods, one end of each of the connecting rods is pivotally connected to the main pole, and another end thereof is pivotally connected to one of the support poles correspondingly (Par. 0025);
the support poles of the base assembly are capable of expanding or retracting, when the support poles are expanded, the support pads contact the ground (Fig 5A).
the weight blocks are respectively installed on the support pads (Fig 7).
However, Liu does not disclose wherein the support pads are respectively pivotally connected to the bottom ends of the support poles.
Swingle et al disclose a similar basketball stand having a telescoping post (9) connected to a base (5) which has support poles (7) and connecting rods (10) and further Swingle et al teach support poles having support pads (90; Fig 10) which are pivotable “so as to lay flat upon or be rotated relative to the play surface and thereby maximize the stability of the training device 80 during practice” (Par. 0050). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the stand of Liu to include pivotable support pads connected to the bottom ends of the support poles as taught by Swingle et al to increase stability of the stand when in the deployed state.
Examiner’s Figure
[AltContent: textbox (Fixed Seat)][AltContent: textbox (Sliding Seat)][AltContent: textbox (Connecting Rods)][AltContent: textbox (Support Poles)][AltContent: textbox (Supporting Pads)]
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7. Liu discloses the basketball stand as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base assembly further comprises a fixed seat and a sliding seat, the fixed seat is fixedly disposed on a bottom end of the main pole; the sliding seat is sleeved on the main pole and located above the fixed seat, and capable of sliding along a longitudinal direction of the main pole; a top end of each of the support poles is pivotally connected to the sliding seat; one end of each of the connecting rods is pivotally connected to the fixed seat, and another end thereof is pivotally connected to one of the support poles correspondingly (See Examiner's Figure).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Swingle et al as applied to Claims 1 and 7 above, and further in view of Sawhney et al (US Patent Application Publication 2014/0151527).
8. Liu in view of Swing et al disclose the basketball stand significantly as claimed, but do not disclose a pressing member having a cam end and a pulling portion connected to the cam end, the cam end of the pressing member being pivotally connected to the sliding seat, the pressing member being capable of switching between a pressing position and a release position, when the pressing member being located at the pressing position, the cam end pressing against the main pole to position the sliding seat; when the pressing member being located at the release position, the cam end being not pressing the main pole.
Sawhney et al teach a similar telescoping stand assembly having a foldable base with support poles (110), connecting rods (410), a fixed seat (406) and a sliding seat (108) wherein the sliding seat is secured to the post (400) via a cam member (414) which causes the pressure member to be forced against the body pole and affix the leg connector in place with respect to the body pole (Par. 0058). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the stand assembly of Liu to replace the set screw of the sliding seat with the cam member as taught by Sawhney et al to maintain the structural integrity of the body pole (e.g. set screws would mar the surface thereof) while providing a secure fixation of the sliding seat to the post.
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Swingle et al as applied to Claims 1 and 7 above, and further in view of Zimmer et al (US Patent Application Publication 2020/0306604).
9 and 10. Liu in view of Swing et al disclose the basketball stand significantly as claimed, but do not explicitly disclose wherein the main pole has an inner pole and a hollow outer pole, the inner pole is telescopically receivable in the outer pole and the poles are capable of moving relative to each other; a top end of the inner pole protrudes from a top end of the outer pole to form a top end of the main pole; a positioning component has an end sleeve disposed on the top end of the outer pole and a positioning pin, the positioning pin is inserted into positioning holes disposed on the inner pole through the end sleeve from the outer pole and can be withdrawn from the inner pole.
Zimmer et al teach a similar basketball stand having a telescoping post assembly having an outer/base post (20) and an inner post (10) which are capable of moving relative to one another. The stand having a positioning component (Figs 10-12) having a positioning pin (30) which extends into positioning holes (14) disposed on the inner pole (10) which allows for the inner post to be set at a desired height relative to the outer post and to be positively fixed relative there to prevent any downward movement of the assembled basketball set (Par. 0079-0081). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the stand of Liu and Swingle et al to have the telescoping posts and positioning mechanism as taught by Zimmer et al to reduce the number of parts of the assembly and allow positioning of the posts at a plurality of desired heights.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 11-15 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. LaPointe et al, Purcell, Meier et al, and Tsai et al all disclose similar stands having foldable legs and telescoping posts.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA T KENNEDY whose telephone number is (571)272-8297. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7a-4:30p MST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, LoAn Jimenez can be reached at (571) 272-4966. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSHUA T KENNEDY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3784
1/21/2026