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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is a Non-final Office Action for application number 18/603,499 DRYWALL HANGING TOOL filed on 3/13/2024. Claims 1-13 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on 3/13/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of the election of species in the reply filed on 10/30/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that with only two species the search is not burdensome to the examiner. This is not found persuasive because the two species require different art and that is considered burdensome.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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 of this title, 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 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent No. 5,129,774 to Balseiro et al and in view of United States Patent Publication No. 2019/0055739 to Gross et al.
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow]With regards to claims 1 and 8, Balseiro teaches a dry wall hanging tool having a base (40) piece with two bends (See claims 2 and 9 for bends), an adjusting piece (47, 10), plurality of holes,
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screws (See Col. 2 line 13), and a handle (30). Balseiro does not teach a clip.
Gross et al. teachers a dry wall hanging tool (1) with a clip (41), used for holding tools and it would be obvious to add a clip in order to have tools close to the installation of the dry wall.
With regards to claims 2 and 9, Balseiro et al. teaches wherein the base piece has a
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vertical and horizontal surface with a
[AltContent: arrow]90-degree bend
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and a plurality of holes (holes shown above).
With regards to claims 3 and 9, Balseiro et al. shows wherein the adjusting piece comprises of a vertical (47, 10) and horizontal surface (48) with a plurality of holes.
With regards to claims 4 and 10, the combination of Balseiro et al. and Grosse al. wherein the clip is designed to hold additional tools, tool bags, or other items. (See Gross et al. other items 42)
With regards to claims 5 and 11, Balseiro does not specifically teach that the adjusting piece is removably affixed to the base piece with two bends, however it is obvious that the device could be disassembled at any joint.
With regards to claims 6 and 12, Balseiro teaches wherein screws removably affix the base piece and adjusting piece through a plurality of holes to drywall or framing (See Col. 2 line 13).
With regards to claim 7, it is obvious from the combination that the clip may be affixed to either a base piece or adjusting piece, as motivated by having the items close to the installation site.
With regards to claim 13, Balseiro teaches wherein the two bends are approximately two 90-degree angles and provide additional support for hanging drywall. (See Figure 3)
Cited References
PN 8,549,816 to Roberts shows an installation bracket
PN 7,694,464 to Garcia et al. shows an installation bracket
PN 6,161,824 to Gustavson shows an installation bracket
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Amy J. Sterling at telephone number 571-272-6823 or to Supervisor Jonathan Liu at 571-272-8227 if the examiner cannot be reached. The examiner can normally be reached (Mon-Fri 8am-5:00pm). The fax machine number for the Technology center is 571-273-8300 (formal amendments), informal amendments or communications 571-273-6823. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application should be directed to the Technology Center receptionist at 571-272-3600.
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/AMY J. STERLING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3631 11/21/25