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 First Office Action on the Merits in application 18/623,562, filed 4/1/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending and examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/1/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-4, 10-11 and 18 are objected to because of the following informalities: in claims 3-4 and 10-11, “is comprised of” should be changed to “comprises”; and in claim 18, line 6, “lower” should be changed to “lowering”, and in line 7, “close” should be changed to “closing”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Debs(4,487,243; cited on PTO 892) in view of Crouse(7,034,248; cited on PTO 892).
Regarding claims 1, 4-9 and 11-17, Debs discloses a decorative blind device(see Fig. 1) comprising:
a frame(12);
a blind(slats 14, see Fig. 1) attached to the frame via a ladder string(20A, 20B; see Fig. 2) positioned in an opening in the blind(14a, see column 3, lines 30-37);
a bottom rail(18; considered to have a weight and therefore “weighted”);
a tilt control/wand(34, see column 2, lines 36-37 and Fig. 1); and
a lift control/cord loop(loop 20/20A/20B on right side of Fig. 1; see column 2, lines 23-27).
Debs lacks the blinds having an indicia.
Crouse discloses a blind device with individual blinds with indicia on the slats making up a pattern(see Figs. 5-6).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have substituted the blinds of Debs with the blind having indicia given that KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 127 S.Ct. 1727, 82 USPQ.2d 1385 (Fed. Cir. 2005), cert. granted, 547 U.S. __ (2006) has found that the substitution of one known element for another would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. The specific indicia or placement or number of blinds that make up the indicia are considered features best determined by a skilled artisan given the intended use of the blinds and design requirements thereof.
Regarding claims 9, Debs and Crouse disclose the decorative blind device of claim 1, wherein the blind(14) comprises a first horizontal blind(considered upper one or more of the plurality of slats 14, see Fig. 1) attached to the frame(12) via a ladder string(20A/20B) and a second horizontal blind(considered one or more of the lower plurality of slats 14, see Fig. 1) attached to the frame(12) via the ladder string(20A/20B), a first surface of the first and second horizontal blinds comprised of a first and second indicia(see blinds of Figs. 5-6 of Crouse), respectively.
Regarding claim 2, Debs discloses the decorative blind device of claim 1, wherein the blind comprises a Venetian blind(see title).
Regarding claims 3 and 10, Debs discloses the decorative blind device of claims 1 and 9, wherein the frame comprises a fastener(12G, see Fig. 5).
Regarding claims 18-20, Debs discloses the decorative blind device of claims 1 and 9 with tilting and lifting such that the blind is lifted and lowered(via the lift control) and tilted closed or open(via the tilt control, the order of the claimed tilting or opening or closing is considered to not be limited as the claims do not limit the order and the steps can be done in any order, the Debs reference performs each of the method steps in any order meeting the claim limitations).
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tsuhako(4,377,194) discloses a frame and slats having a pattern, a bottom rail, a tilt control cord, and a lift control.
Conn(4,333,509) discloses a venetian blind having a color pattern on the slats.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BETH A. STEPHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-1851. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8a-4:30p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Glessner can be reached at 571-272-6754. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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BETH A. STEPHAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3633
/Beth A Stephan/