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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 8, 13 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Totsu (US 8,083,453). Totsu discloses a screw (10A) comprising: a head (12); an externally threaded shank (14) extending from the head; a flow-hole-forming tip (20) at the end the threaded shank. The flow-hole-forming tip comprising: a convex radiused lower zone transitioning from the threaded shank into a concave radiused middle zone which transitions to a radiused distal end zone, all of which are radiused in the axial direction. The flow-hole-forming tip can have a cutting edge (embodiment Figs. 5-6) or a not a cutting edge (embodiment Figs. 1-2) and a width of the flow-hole-forming tip relative to its’ length is shown to be within the claimed range. Totsu further discloses a plurality of workpieces (32 and 34 as seen in Fig. 2).
PNG
media_image1.png
1080
1050
media_image1.png
Greyscale
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.
Claims 5, 7, 11 and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Totsu. Totsu is not specific with regards to the dimensions of the thread nor the specific material of the substrates. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to make the screw within the claimed dimensions because it is well known to make screws in different sizes for different uses. The examiner takes official notice that the specific material are well known in the art as well as the plural threads.
Claims 10, 12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Totsu as applied to claims 1 and 13 above, and further in view of Zach (US 10,221,880). Totsu does not disclose the screw includes a coating nor the surface of the tip has a greater roughness. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, Zach discloses a screw including a screw tip with a coating (4) and with greater roughness (column 2, paragraph beginning line 54). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the screw tip of Totsu with a coating and a roughness for optimizing the screw depending on its use as discussed in Zach.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4 and 9 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.
Conclusion
Applicant’s remarks have been considered but are moot in light of the new grounds of rejection.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FLEMMING SAETHER whose telephone number is (571)272-7071. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 - 7:00 eastern.
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) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christine Mills can be reached at 571-272-8322. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/FLEMMING SAETHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675
Prosecution Insights