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) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kucher (US 3896757; cited by Applicant) in view of Privett et al (GB 854786; cited by Applicant). With respect to claims 1-2, Kucher discloses the basic claimed structure including a marine drive (Figure 1) with an upper bevel gear set 30, 36 and a lower bevel gear set 42, 48 with the upper bevel gear set being connected to the lower bevel gear set by a drive shaft 14 which extends in a vertical direction (Figure 1) and a first pump 122 arranged to supply oil to the upper bevel gear set (column 6, lines 46-64). Not disclosed by Kucher is a second pump and the first pump to supply clutch oil. Privett et al teach a marine drive with multiple oil pumps and supplying oil to a clutch (page 3, lines 30-35). 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 Kucher with multiple oil pumps and to supply oil to a clutch as taught by Privett et al with a high likelihood of success for improved lubrication. The combination combines known features to achieve predictable results. Further, a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention in the art of designing complex and expensive marine drive systems would have years of experience and advanced degrees and would have found the combination to have been obvious.
Claim(s) 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kucher (US 3896757; cited -by Applicant) in view of Privett et al (GB 854786); cited by Applicant), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Tuuliainen (US 2019/0054991; cited by Applicant). With respect to claims 8-10, Kucher does not disclose a screw drive pump. Tuuliainen teaches a marine drive with screw drive oil pump (note the Abstract and all the Figures). 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 Kucher with a screw drive oil pump as taught by Tuuliainen with a high likelihood of success for improved lubrication. The combination combines known features to achieve predictable results. Further, a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention in the art of designing complex and expensive marine drive systems would have years of experience and advanced degrees and would have found the combination to have been obvious.
Claims 3-7 and 11-18 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Wiatrowski (US 8864537) show a screw drive.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN AVILA whose telephone number is (571)272-6678. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 6-4.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Samuel J. Morano can be reached at 571-272-6684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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STEPHEN AVILA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3617
/STEPHEN P AVILA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615
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