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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5-9 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Langlois (US 5322099) in view of Fenton (US 3988997). With respect to claim 1, 7-8, 18-19, Langlois discloses the basic claimed structure including a fuel overfill recovery apparatus for a watercraft with a container with an aperture and a vent. Not disclosed by Langlois are the details of the container including first 18 and second walls 20 with their perimeters being joined to define a reservoir and a coupled connector extending around a periphery of an aperture. Fenton teaches a container 10 (Figure 1) including first and second flat flexible walls with their perimeters being joined to define a reservoir and a coupled connector (triangle flap at periphery of grommet 17) extending around a periphery of an aperture 17 and an integral handle 16. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the device of Langlois with the container including first and second flexible flat walls with their perimeters being joined to define a reservoir and a coupled connector extending around a periphery of an aperture and a handle as taught by Fenton with a high likelihood of success for improved economy and ease of manufacturing by using just two sheets of material and ease of handling. The combination combines known features to achieve predictable results. Further, a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention of designing complex fuel recovery systems would have some years of experience and would be familiar with various containers and connectors and would have found the combination to have been obvious. With respect to claim 5, to provide an additional vent would have been an obvious choice of engineering design to provide improved venting and is merely a duplication of parts (note MPEP 2144.04 VI B) and to form the container to be transparent for ease of letting a user know the amount of fluid in the container. Note that transparent containers are well known.
Claim(s) 2-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Langlois (US 5322099) in view of Fenton (US 3988997), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kenna (US 2017/0065014). With respect to claims 2-4, Langlois does not disclose an adhesive and liner connector. Kenna teaches a connector with adhesive and a liner (claim 4). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the device of Langlois with the connector including adhesive and a removable liner as taught by Kenna with a high likelihood of success for improved ease of attachment and reduced labor cost. The combination combines known features to achieve predictable results. Further, a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention of designing complex fuel recovery systems would have some years of experience and would be familiar with various connectors and would have found the combination to have been obvious. With respect to claim 2, the adhesive of the combination would inherently provide sealing.
Claims 10-17 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.
Claim 20 is allowed.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hansen (US 2068951) shows a fuel system.
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STEPHEN AVILA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3617
/STEPHEN P AVILA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615