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 Objections
Claims 17-18 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 17 recites “wherein first implement” in lines 1-2 wherein it should be revised to be “wherein the first implement”.
Claim 18 recites “wherein nail care tool” in lines 1-2 wherein it should be revised to read “wherein the nail care tool”.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Erikson (US 4001909 A) in view of Ridner (US 2486062 A).
Re. Claim 1, Erikson discloses a nail care tool (Fig. 1-4 discloses a toothbrush that is fully capable of being used as a nail care tool) comprising:
a body (17/14/13/15) having a handle portion (17) and brush portion (14/13/15),
wherein the handle portion comprises a graspable outer wall (see Fig. 2) that has an interior cavity (see Fig. 3 and which shows the cross-sectional view where element 14 is found to be fitted within) and
wherein the brush portion comprises a brush shaft (14) that includes a brush head (13) with a plurality of bristles (15) extending from the brush head (Fig. 2), and
wherein the brush head is moved away from the handle portion when in an extended position (see Fig 2-3), and
wherein the brush head remains outside the interior cavity when in an retracted position (see Fig. 1 and 3 where it should be noted element 31 is not considered to be part of the handle portion of the body and as such would not be part of the interior cavity).
However, Erikson is silent to a brush extension mechanism, wherein the brush extension mechanism is capable of moving the brush portion from a retracted position to an extended position.
Ridner discloses a toothbrush in the same field of endeavor and further discloses a body (Fig. 1) having a handle portion (H) and a brush portion (B) wherein the handle portion comprises a graspable outer wall (3/5 see Fig. 1) that has an interior cavity (see Fig. 3). Further the brush portion comprises a brush shaft (where element 1 points to in Fig. 1) and a brush head (where element 11 points to in Fig. 1) with a plurality of bristles (2) extending from the brush head (Fig. 1). Further, Ridner discloses a brush extension mechanism (9/9a/6/7/8; Col. 2, lines 44-51) capable of moving the brush portion from a retracted position to an extended position (Col. 2, lines 23-27 and 44-51; Col. 3, lines 51-59).
It would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the tool of Erikson to have a brush extension mechanism, wherein the brush extension mechanism is capable of moving the brush portion from a retracted position to an extended position as taught by Ridner to provide means to efficiently guide the brush during extension and retraction.
Re. Claim 2, Erikson and Ridner discloses the nail care tool according to claim 1 wherein Erikson discloses the brush shaft is received within the interior cavity of the handle portion when in the retracted position (see Fig. 1).
Re. Claim 3, Erikson and Ridner discloses the nail care tool according to claim 1 wherein Ridner discloses the brush extension mechanism comprises a slide mechanism (9/9a) rigidly connected to the brush shaft (Fig. 1), the slide mechanism including a portion (9) that extends through a longitudinal slot (Fig. 5 shows the portion extending through the longitudinal slot 6/7/8) that extends through the outer wall of the handle portion (Fig. 5).
Re. Claim 4, Erikson and Ridner discloses the nail care tool according to claim 1 wherein Ridner discloses the brush extension mechanism comprises a slide mechanism (9/9a) rigidly connected to the brush shaft (Fig. 1), the slide mechanism including a portion (9) that extends through a longitudinal slot (Fig. 5 shows the portion extending through the longitudinal slot 6/7/8) that extends through the outer wall of the handle portion (Fig. 5), and wherein the slide mechanism comprises a button (9a) connected to the portion (Fig. 5) that extends through the longitudinal slot (Fig. 5), the button being contactable by a user grasping the handle portion (Fig. 1 wherein it is found to extend outside the slot and as such is contactable by the user grasping the handle portion).
Re. Claim 5, Erikson and Ridner discloses the nail care tool according to claim 1 wherein Ridner discloses the nail care tool comprises a cover member (33) comprising a first end (Annotated Figure A of Fig. 3) having an opening that opens into an interior cavity of the cover member (Annotated Figure A of Fig. 3), the cover member being sized, shaped, and adapted to selectively receive the brush portion within the interior cavity of the cover member to provide a cover for the plurality of bristles (Fig. 1 and 3).
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Claim(s) 1-7 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holcomb (US 20060248671 A1) in view of Erikson (US 4001909 A).
Re. Claim 1, Holcomb discloses a nail care tool (Abstract; Fig. 4-14) comprising:
a body (10) having a handle portion (30) and brush portion (40/50),
wherein the handle portion comprises a graspable outer wall (Fig. 13 shows that the handle portion 30, has an outer wall) that has an interior cavity (Fig. 13 shows the interior cavity of the handle through a cross-sectional view) and
wherein the brush portion comprises a brush shaft (40) that includes a brush head with a plurality of bristles (50; Par. 23 discloses that element 50 is a plurality of bristles) extending from the brush head (Fig. 4-7, 8-10 and 13), and
a brush extension mechanism (34/32), wherein the brush extension mechanism is capable of moving the brush portion from a retracted position to an extended position (Par. 25; Fig. 6-7), and
wherein the brush head is moved away from the handle portion when in the extended position (Par. 25; Fig. 6-7).
However, Holcomb is silent to the brush head remains outside the interior cavity when in the retracted position.
Erikson discloses a brush tool in the analogous art of brush tools and further discloses a body (17/14/13/15) having a handle portion (17) and brush portion (14/13/15), wherein the handle portion comprises a graspable outer wall (see Fig. 2) that has an interior cavity (see Fig. 3 and which shows the cross-sectional view where element 14 is found to be fitted within) and wherein the brush portion comprises a brush shaft (14) that includes a brush head (13) with a plurality of bristles (15) extending from the brush head (Fig. 2), and wherein the brush head is moved away from the handle portion when in an extended position (see Fig 2-3), and wherein the brush head remains outside the interior cavity when in an retracted position (see Fig. 1 and 3 where it should be noted element 31 is not considered to be part of the handle portion of the body and as such would not be part of the interior cavity).
Further, Erikson discloses an arrangement where the brush head is covered by a cover (31/32/33; Fig. 3) and NOT found to be retracted within the interior cavity of the handle portion. Holcomb discloses a similar arrangement where Erikson discloses a cover but is intended to cover a majority of the body of the handle portion as shown in Fig. 4.
It would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the brush head of Holcomb to remain outside the interior cavity when in the retracted position as taught by Erikson to prevent the bristles of the brush head from being damaged when retracted within the handle portion.
Re. Claim 2, Holcomb and Erikson discloses the nail care tool according to claim 1 wherein Holcomb discloses the brush shaft is received within the interior cavity of the handle portion when in the retracted position (Fig. 7).
Re. Claim 3, Holcomb and Erikson discloses the nail care tool according to claim 1 wherein Holcomb discloses the brush extension mechanism comprises a slide mechanism (34) rigidly connected to the brush shaft (Fig. 6), the slide mechanism including a portion that extends through a longitudinal slot (32; Fig. 6) that extends through the outer wall of the handle portion (Par. 25).
Re. Claim 4, Holcomb and Erikson discloses the nail care tool according to claim 1 wherein Holcomb discloses the brush extension mechanism comprises a slide mechanism (34) rigidly connected to the brush shaft (Par. 25; Fig. 4-7), the slide mechanism including a portion that extends through a longitudinal slot (32; Fig. 4-7) that extends through the outer wall of the handle portion (Fig. 4-7) and wherein the slide mechanism comprises a button (see Fig. 13-14 where element 34 points to is the button) connected to the portion that extends through the longitudinal slot (Fig. 13-14), the button being contactable by a user grasping the handle portion (Par 29).
Re. Claim 5, Holcomb and Erikson discloses the nail care tool according to claim 1 wherein Holcomb discloses the nail care tool comprises a cover member (20) member comprising a first end having an opening that opens into an interior cavity of the cover member (Annotated Figure B of Fig. 6), the cover member being sized, shaped, and adapted to selectively receive the brush portion within the interior cavity of the cover member to provide a cover for the plurality of bristles (Fig 4-5).
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Re. Claim 6, Holcomb and Erikson discloses the nail care tool according to claim 5 wherein Holcomb discloses the cover member has a width substantially the same as the width of a front end of the handle portion and a length sufficiently long that when the brush portion is in the retracted position, the cover member can receive the brush portion and contact the front end of the handle portion (Fig. 4-7).
Re. Claim 7, Holcomb and Erikson discloses the nail care tool according to claim 5 wherein Holcomb discloses the cover member has a width substantially the same as the width of a front end of the handle portion and a length sufficiently long that when the brush portion is in the retracted position, the cover member can receive the brush portion and contact the front end of the handle portion, and wherein the length of the cover member is sufficiently short that when the brush portion is in the extended position, the cover member cannot contact the front end of the handle portion when the brush portion is received in the cover member (Fig. 4-7).
Re. Claim 19, Holcomb discloses a method of caring for a nail (Abstract; Fig. 4-14), the method comprising:
providing an implement (Fig. 4-14) comprising a body (10) having a handle portion (30) and brush portion (40/50),
wherein the handle portion (30) comprises a graspable outer wall (Fig. 13 shows that the handle portion 30, has an outer wall) that has an interior cavity (Fig. 13 shows the interior cavity of the handle through a cross-sectional view) and
wherein the brush portion comprises a brush shaft (40) that includes a brush head with a plurality of bristles (50) extending from the brush head (Fig. 4);
moving the brush portion from a retracted position to an extended position where the brush head is moved away from the handle portion (Fig. 6-7; Par. 22-25);
using the brush portion to care for a nail (Abstract); and
returning the brush portion from the extended position to the retracted position with the brush head outside the interior cavity (Par. 22-25).
However, Holcomb is silent to moving the brush portion from a retracted position in which the brush head is outside the interior cavity.
Erikson discloses a brush tool in the analogous art of brush tools and further discloses a body (17/14/13/15) having a handle portion (17) and brush portion (14/13/15), wherein the handle portion comprises a graspable outer wall (see Fig. 2) that has an interior cavity (see Fig. 3 and which shows the cross-sectional view where element 14 is found to be fitted within) and wherein the brush portion comprises a brush shaft (14) that includes a brush head (13) with a plurality of bristles (15) extending from the brush head (Fig. 2), and wherein the brush head is moved away from the handle portion when in an extended position (see Fig 2-3), and wherein the brush head remains outside the interior cavity when in an retracted position (see Fig. 1 and 3 where it should be noted element 31 is not considered to be part of the handle portion of the body and as such would not be part of the interior cavity).
Further, Erikson discloses an arrangement where the brush head is covered by a cover (31/32/33; Fig. 3) and NOT found to be retracted within the interior cavity of the handle portion. Holcomb discloses a similar arrangement where Erikson discloses a cover but is intended to cover a majority of the body of the handle portion as shown in Fig. 4.
It would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the method of Holcomb to include moving the brush portion from a retracted position in which the brush head is outside the interior cavity as taught by Erikson to prevent the bristles of the brush head from being damaged when retracted within the handle portion.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holcomb (US 20060248671 A1) in view of Erikson (US 4001909 A) and Lim (US 20150121638 A1).
Re. Claim 8, Holcomb and Erikson discloses the nail care tool according to claim 5 wherein Holcomb discloses the cover member has a width substantially the same as the width of a front end of the handle portion (Fig. 4-7), and wherein a rear end of handle portion receives and retains the cover member to extend the length of the handle portion (Fig. 4-7 where the cover member may be placed by the closed end 29 of the body 30; Par. 30).
However, they are silent to the rear end having a nub.
Lim discloses a retractable cosmetic brush in the analogous art and further discloses a nub (124) that may be positionable over a rear end (124) through friction fit or snap fit (Par. 36) to provide means of storing the cap during use.
It would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the body of Holcomb and Erikson to have a nub at the rear end as taught by Lim to provide means of storing the cap during use.
Claim(s) 9-11 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holcomb (US 20060248671 A1) in view of Erikson (US 4001909 A) and Leo (US 3091248 A).
Re. Claim 9, Holcomb and Erikson discloses the nail care tool according to claim 1 but are silent to the nail care tool further comprises a second implement that is storable within the body.
Leo discloses a retractable brush in the analogous art and further discloses the assembly can be used to store other elements such as a nail file (Col. 2, lines 47-52). Thus, brush comprises a second implement (i.e. nail file as disclosed in Col. 2, lines 47-53) that is storable within the body (Col. 2, lines 50-53).
It would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the nail care tool of Holcomb and Erikson to further comprise a second implement that is storable within the body as taught by Leo to provide an assembly to store multiple accessories together easily when traveling.
Re. Claim 10, Holcomb, Erikson, and Leo discloses the nail care tool according to claim 9 wherein Leo discloses the body comprises a channel (25a) having an opening (groove of the channel 25a as shown in Fig. 7), wherein the second implement is removably insertable into the opening in the channel so that the second implement may be stored within the body (Col. 2, lines 50-53).
It would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the body of Holcomb, Erikson and Leo to have a channel having an opening, wherein the second implement is removably insertable into the opening in the channel so that the second implement may be stored within the body as taught by Leo to provide an assembly to store multiple accessories together easily when traveling.
Re. Claim 11, Holcomb, Erikson, and Leo discloses the nail care tool according to claim 9 wherein the second implement comprises a nail file (Col. 2, lines 47-53).
It would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the second implement of Holcomb, Erikson and Leo to be a nail file as taught by Leo to provide the user means to groom their nails.
Re. Claim 20, Holcomb discloses the method according to claim 19 but is silent to providing a second implement, the second implement being storable when not in use within the body.
Leo discloses a retractable brush in the analogous art and further discloses the assembly can be used to store other elements such as a nail file (Col. 2, lines 47-52). Thus, brush providing a second implement (i.e. nail file as disclosed in Col. 2, lines 47-53) being storable when not in use within the body (Col. 2, lines 50-53; Fig. 7-8).
It would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the nail care tool of Holcomb to further comprise providing a second implement being storable when not in use within the body as taught by Leo to provide an assembly to store multiple accessories together easily when traveling.
Claim(s) 12 and 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holcomb (US 20060248671 A1) in view of Wyman (US 2122226 A) and Savage (US 5088509 A).
Re. Claim 12, Holcomb discloses a nail care tool (Abstract) comprising:
a first implement (10/30/40/50) comprising a body (10) having a handle portion (30) and brush portion (40/50),
wherein the handle portion comprises a graspable outer wall (Fig. 13 shows that the handle portion 30, has an outer wall) and
wherein the brush portion comprises a brush shaft (40) that includes a brush head with a plurality of bristles (50; Par. 23 discloses that element 50 is a plurality of bristles) extending from the brush head (Fig. 4-7, 8-10 and 13).
However, Holcomb is silent to a second implement comprising a body with a grippable portion, wherein the first implement comprises a storage region in the brush head, the storage region comprising a channel having an opening, and wherein the body of the second implement is removably insertable into the opening in the channel so that the second implement may be stored within the first implement.
Wyman discloses a nail care tool in the same field of endeavor and further discloses a brush head comprising a storage region (see Fig. 1 where element 14 is fitted into) comprising a channel (see Fig. 1 where the open space in which element fits into is the channel), and an implement (14) has a greppable portion (see where element 14 points to) wherein the body of the implement is removably insertable into the opening in the channel so that the second implement may be stored within the first implement (Fig. 1; Pg. 1, col. 1, lines 35-43, Pg. 1, col. 2, lines 7-10).
It is found that it is well known in the art to pair a brush head with that of an implement such as a file similar to that of Wyman. This can be exemplified by Savage which discloses a different arrangement where the brush portion (Fig. 6) can be paired with the file (17) by covering said file at the brush head portion (Fig. 4-6).
As such, it would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the nail care tool of Holcomb to have a implement comprising a body with a grippable portion, wherein the first implement comprises a storage region in the brush head, the storage region comprising a channel having an opening, and wherein the body of the second implement is removably insertable into the opening in the channel so that the second implement may be stored within the first implement as taught by Wyman and Savage to consolidate the tools needed by the user into one convenient tool.
Re. Claim 15, Holcomb, Wyman and Savage discloses the nail care tool according to claim 12 wherein Wyman discloses the storage region is in the brush head is on the side of the brush head opposite to the plurality of bristles (Fig. 1).
Re. Claim 16, Holcomb, Wyman and Savage discloses the nail care tool according to claim 12 wherein Wyman discloses the second implement comprises a nail file with a filing surface on the body of the second implement (Fig. 1 element 14 is denoted as a nail file; Pg. 1, Col. 1, lines 38-39).
Re. Claim 17, Holcomb, Wyman and Savage discloses the nail care tool according to claim 12 wherein Holcomb discloses the first implement comprises a brush extension mechanism (34/32), wherein the brush extension mechanism is capable of moving the brush portion from a retracted position to an extended position, wherein the brush head is moved away from the handle portion when in the extended position (Par. 25; Fig. 6-7).
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holcomb (US 20060248671 A1) in view of Wyman (US 2122226 A), Savage (US 5088509 A) and Lim (US 20150121638 A1).
Re. Claim 18, Holcomb, Wyman and Savage discloses the nail care tool according to claim 17 wherein Holcomb discloses the nail care tool comprises
a cover member (20) comprising a first end having an opening that opens into an interior cavity of the cover member (Annotated Figure B of Fig. 6),
the cover member being sized, shaped, and adapted to selectively receive the brush portion within the interior cavity of the cover member to provide a cover for the plurality of bristles (Fig. 4-5),
wherein the cover member has a width substantially the same as the width of a front end of the handle portion and a length sufficiently long that when the brush portion is in the retracted position (Fig. 4-5),
the cover member can receive the brush portion and contact the front end of the handle portion (Fig. 4-7),
wherein the length of the cover member is sufficiently short that when the brush portion is in the extended position (Fig. 4-7),
the cover member cannot contact the front end of the handle portion when the brush portion is received in the cover member (Fig. 4-7), and
wherein a rear end of handle portion receives and retains the cover member to extend the length of the handle portion (Fig. 4-7 where the cover member may be placed by the closed end 29 of the body 30; Par. 30).
However, they are silent to the rear end having a nub.
Lim discloses a retractable cosmetic brush in the analogous art and further discloses a nub (124) that may be positionable over a rear end (124) through friction fit or snap fit (Par. 36) to provide means of storing the cap during use.
It would have been obvious to someone skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have the body of Holcomb, Wyman and Savage to have a nub at the rear end as taught by Lim to provide means of storing the cap during use.
Response to Arguments
Argument #1: Applicant argues that Lowen does not disclose the limitation of independent claims 1, and 12 due to the new claim limitations. As such, subsequent dependent claims are found to not be taught as well.
Response #1: Applicant’s argument is found to be persuasive and the 102 rejections are withdrawn.
Argument #2: Applicant argues that Holcomb does not teach the limitation of independent claims 1, 12, and 19 due to the new claim limitations. As such, subsequent dependent claims are found to not be taught as well.
Response #2: Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Argument #3: Applicant argues that Strauch does not render claim 12 allowable as it presents a second implement stored differently from applicant.
Response #3: Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-14 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
It is found that Holcomb is found to be the closest prior art but is found to be silent to in combination with the rest of the claim limitation the grippable portion of the second implement is sized or shaped to not be receivable within the opening of the channel and the second implement is fully inserted into the channel, the grippable portion matches the contour of the body of the first implement.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. See Form PTO-892.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/HOLLY T. TO/Examiner, Art Unit 3772
/THOMAS C BARRETT/SPE, Art Unit 3799