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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/23/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This action is responsive to the amendment and RCE dated 4/23/2026. Claims 1-20 and 32-35 remain pending. Claims 1-15 remain withdrawn. Claims 16-20 and 32-35 are being examined. The previous 112 rejection has been withdrawn due to applicant’s amendment. This action is Non-Final.
Specification
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required: the amendment to recite the plug including a blind bore and the specifics of the blind bore are not currently found in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code 103 not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 16-18, 20, and 32-35, claim 17 as far as it is definite, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hisao (JP-H07236696)(reference and machine translation supplied in the Non-Final Rejection dated 12/12/2025) in view of Evans (U.S. 5,466,228) and Liu et al. (U.S. 10,004,890).
Hisao discloses a stopcock, comprising: a base (1); a first barbed adapter (16 or 18, see the barbs in figs. 1 and 3A-3B) extending from the base; a second barbed adapter (the other of 16 or 18, see the barbs in figs. 1 and 3A-3B) extending from the base, wherein the first barbed adapter and the second barbed adapter are substantially 180 degrees apart (fig. 1, fig. 3A-B); a connection port (the port on the base for 17, see Fig. 3A) extending from the base, wherein the connection port is substantially 90 degrees apart from the first barbed adapter and the second barbed adapter (best shown in fig. 3A), a plug (2) disposed in the base, the plug including having an upper portion (the upper portion in fig. 2 at 3, 4, 5, 6) and at least one symbol indicating a no-flow position or a flow position disposed on an upper surface of the upper portion of the plug (see the symbols at 4-6 in fig. 2, described in para. 5 (approximately line 6 on page 4 of the machine translation), as being angle display portions which, depending on the rotational angle, will indicate flow or no-flow).
Hisao does not appear to disclose the plug having a substantially cylindrical upper portion with at least a portion of the symbol extending between a center of the upper surface and an edge of the upper surface or the plug including a blind bore extending from the upper surface of the upper portion of the plug, along a longitudinal axis of the plug, to a position proximate the connection port.
Evans teaches it was known in the art to have a similar rotary valve with a substantially cylindrical upper portion (91) with an indicator symbol extending between a center of the upper surface and an edge of the upper surface (indicator symbol 92).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hisao by having the upper portion be substantially cylindrical with the symbols for indicating flow or no flow extending between a center of the upper surface and an edge of the upper surface as taught by Evans as the substantially cylindrical upper portion provides for a more compact user interface area to rotate the valve and can be easier to manufacture as protruding handles are not required while still allowing for an indication of the valve position and whether or not there is flow through the valve.
Liu teaches it was known in the art to have a similar rotary plug valve with a blind bore extending from the upper surface of the upper portion of the plug, along a longitudinal axis of the plug, to a position proximate the connection port (tap 30, see the blind bore leading from the lead line of numeral 30 in fig. 3 downward until stopping at the wall for passage 32).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hisao by having the plug have a blind bore that extends from an upper surface along a longitudinal axis to a position proximate the connection port as taught by Liu in order to provide a functionally equivalent rotary plug that uses less material and is lighter in weight, saving on associated costs.
Regarding claim 17, Hisao as modified further discloses wherein the at least one symbol includes a first non-word symbol indicating the no-flow position and a second no-word symbol indicating the flow position (see the symbols at 4-6 in fig. 2, described in para. 5 (approximately line 6 on page 4 of the machine translation), as being angle display portions which, depending on the rotational angle, will indicate flow or no-flow).
Regarding claim 18, Hisao as modified further discloses wherein the plug includes rounded edges (as it is cylindrical, see fig. 2).
Regarding claim 20, Hisao as modified further discloses wherein the plug and the base are mated with a semi-circular ridge (see the top surface in fig. 3A at element 20 and similar portions circumferentially around the top surface divided into numerous “ridges” by 21-24, this surface mating with a surface of the plug at 7 as shown in fig. 1).
Regarding claim 32, Hisao as modified discloses the claimed invention but does not appear to disclose the stopcock having an inner diameter that is between about 0.2” and about 0.30”.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hisao by having the stopcock have an inner diameter that is between about 0.2” and about 0.30”, since it has been held that a change in size of a component generally involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP2144.04. The motivation for doing so would be to have an appropriately sized valve for a particular application desired by a user to handle the desired amount of fluid flow through the valve.
Regarding claim 33, Hisao as modified discloses the claimed invention but does not appear to disclose wherein the stopcock is configured such that when a drainage catheter having an outer diameter equal to or larger than 16 Fr is connected to the stopcock, a flow through the drainage catheter is not reduced to an inner diameter of the stopcock.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hisao by having the stopcock configured such that when a drainage catheter having an outer diameter equal to or larger than 16 Fr is connected to the stopcock, a flow through the drainage catheter is not reduced to an inner diameter of the stopcock, since it has been held that a change in size of a component generally involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP2144.04. The motivation for doing so would be to have an appropriately sized valve for a particular application desired by a user to handle the desired amount of fluid flow through the valve and also be able to connect to already in place conduits such as a catheter having an outer diameter equal to or larger than 16 Fr.
Regarding claim 34, Hisao as modified further discloses wherein the stopcock has a substantially same inner diameter from the first barbed adapter to the second barbed adapter (best shown in fig. 3B).
Regarding claim 35, Hisao as modified further discloses wherein the stopcock has a substantially same inner diameter from the first barbed adapter to the second barbed adapter (best shown in fig. 3B), with the substantially same inner diameter in the plug when a flow is open to the first and the second barbed adapters (best shown in fig. 1, as the diameter of the fluid channel(s) in the plug are substantially similar to the diameters of the barbed adapters).
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hisao in view of Evans and Liu as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Duncan (U.S. 9,995,405).
Hisao as modified discloses the claimed invention but does not appear the plug and base including corresponding detents for locking together.
Duncan teaches it was known in the art to have a similar stopcock that has a plug and base with corresponding detents for locking together (detent slots 60 on the plug and detent ribs 100 on the base, see figs. 1-2).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Hisao by having corresponding detents on the plug and base as taught by Duncan in order to resist any rotational orientation other than the desired operational states for the stopcock (see col. 6, ll. 17-23 and 33-36).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 16 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL R REID whose telephone number is (313)446-4859. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9am-5pm est.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors can be reached by phone. Craig Schneider can be reached at 571-272-3607, or Ken Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form.
/MICHAEL R REID/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
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