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 .
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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of the restriction requirement to two distinct inventions in the reply filed on 03/04/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the grounds that the two inventions are identical and would necessitate the same field of search. This is persuasive because the field of search would be similar and while the claims are still directed to two distinct inventions (a method and an apparatus), the same claimed limitations are within claim 1 and 12.
The requirement is therefore withdrawn.
Double Patenting
Claims 1 and 12 of this application is patentably indistinct from claims 1-2 of Application No. 18/541,868. While not identical, claims 1 and 12 of the instant application is taught by claims 1 and 2 of U.S. Application No. 18/541,868, as this application describes the same claimed limitations using a different vocabular, detailing an electrosurgical generator with regular modules, outputs for said modules to connect electrosurgical instruments, inverter modules for generating feed signals, and communication models between electrosurgical generators. Although the claims are not identical, they do describe the same claimed invention, and therefore, are subject to a provisional non-statutory double patenting rejection.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.78(f), when two or more applications filed by the same applicant or assignee contain patentably indistinct claims, elimination of such claims from all but one application may be required in the absence of good and sufficient reason for their retention during pendency in more than one application. Applicant is required to either cancel the patentably indistinct claims from all but one application or maintain a clear line of demarcation between the applications. See MPEP § 822.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 and 13-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if overcoming the rejection of claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Abigail M Bock whose telephone number is (571)272-8856. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am - 5:00pm.
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/ABIGAIL BOCK/Examiner, Art Unit 3794
/LINDA C DVORAK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3794