DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claims 8-12 and 14-20 in the reply filed on 6/1/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-5 and 7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/1/2026.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 9/24/2025 has been fully considered. An initialed copy of said IDS is enclosed herein.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 8-12 and 14 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
With regards to claim 8, said claim is held to be indefinite because it is unclear what is meant by
“ unfolding the softened bamboo strips at equal arc and fixed thickness”. Said term does not seem to be an art-accepted term and is not further described in the original disclosure of the pending application. Furthermore, it is unclear what is meant by “performing double-sided protection and gradual flattening” and “heat preservation”. Said terms do not seem to be art-accepted terms and are not further described in the original disclosure of the pending application. It also is not clear what is meant by “trimming under a fixed width.”
With regards to claims 15-19, said claims are further held to be indefinite because it is unclear what is being measured; specifically, it is unclear what constitutes “an outer surface of a bamboo wall” and “the inside as a raw material.”
With regards to claim 20, said claim is further held to be indefinite because it is unclear what test methods are utilized to determine the claimed tensile strength, parallel to grain tensile strength, and parallel to grain compressive strength. A skilled artisan would understand the results of said test methods are highly dependent upon the test conditions and sample preparation utilized
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.
Claim(s) 8-12 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2021-142656 (herein referred to as Nishimura) in view of CN113370332 (herein referred to as ”Ye”).
Nishimura desc discloses bamboo outer skin-retaining bamboo veneer (abstract) prepared by a method comprising:
step 1: segmenting bamboo to obtain bamboo tubes, and cutting each bamboo tube into
bamboo strips with an arc-shaped section (see Figure 1A and “Split bamboo and bamboo material” section);
step 2: Then, the bamboo is boiled (23). The split bamboo 10 is immersed in an aqueous sodium carbonate solution and boiled for about 15 to 60 minutes to remove lye and oil. Subsequently, steam heating is performed in the autoclave device (25). The internal temperature of the autoclave is set to 120 ° C. to 180 ° C. and boiling is performed for 60 minutes to 120 minutes. Subsequently, hot pressing is performed using a hot pressing de vice (26). The split bamboo 11 is sandwiched between a flat stage heated to 70 ° C. to 150 ° C. and a flat press plate, and slowly pressed over a time of about 30 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes softening the bamboo strips by pressurizing and heating, unfolding the softened bamboo strips; the inner skin is shaving bamboo inner skin off (see Figure 2A and discussion thereof in specification); Said steps are understood to read on step 2. Alternatively, said limitations are understood to be method limitations that do not patentably distinguish the claimed product from the product taught by the prior art unless it can be shown that the method of making the product inherently results in a materially different product. In the present application, no such showing has been made.
Nishimura is relied upon as above but does not disclose subjecting the bamboo veneer to steps 3 and 4 of claim 8. However, Ye discloses subjecting the bamboo veneer of step 2 to further processing wherein double-sided protective gradual flattening is preformed until the bamboo strip is completely flattened to obtain a bamboo board; cooling is then performed, and a plurality of layers are pressurized , and fixed-width trimming is performed to obtain a finished bamboo board. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to further process the veneer of Nishimura according to Ye. The motivation for doing so would have been to obtain a veneer which is smooth and has no rebounding or cracking. To the extent any of the method limitations of claim 12 are not taught or rendered obvious by Nishimura and/or Ye, the examiner takes the position that said limitations are understood to be method limitations that do not patentably distinguish the claimed product from the product taught by the prior art unless it can be shown that the method of making the product inherently results in a materially different product. In the present application, no such showing has been made.
With regards to claim 9, Nishimura teaches the number of bamboo strips cut from the bamboo tube may be 3 and that the bamboo tube may have a diameter of 100mm (see “Preparation of split bamboo)-herein understood to read on the claimed “60 to 150 mm.”
With regards to claim 10, neither reference teaches that “the conditions of softening by heating in the step 2 are as follows: a pressure is 0.8 to 1.3 MPa, a temperature is 160 to 200 °C, and time is 3 to 10 min.” However, said limitations are understood to be method limitations that do not patentably distinguish the claimed product from the product taught by the prior art unless it can be shown that the method of making the product inherently results in a materially different product. In the present application, no such showing has been made.
With regards to claim 11, said limitations are understood to be method limitations that do not patentably distinguish the claimed product from the product taught by the prior art unless it can be shown that the method of making the product inherently results in a materially different product. In the present application, no such showing has been made.
With regards to claim 12, the prior art does not teach the claimed “condition of heat preservation in the step 3 is 80 to 100°C; the double-side protection and gradual flattening refers to gradually flatten through a plurality of pressing devices; and each pressing device comprises an upper pressing plate and a lower pressing plate between which a gap is formed, and radians of the gaps of the plurality of pressing devices are sequentially reduced.” However, said limitations are understood to be method limitations that do not patentably distinguish the claimed product from the product taught by the prior art unless it can be shown that the method of making the product inherently results in a materially different product. In the present application, no such showing has been made.
With regards to claim 14, the prior art does not teach that the conditions of shaping under a heavy weight and drying in step 4 are as follows: the heavy weight is 1000 to 1200 kg, and a drying temperature is 30 to 60°C. However, said limitations are understood to be method limitations that do not patentably distinguish the claimed product from the product taught by the prior art unless it can be shown that the method of making the product inherently results in a materially different product. In the present application, no such showing has been made.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN R KRUER whose telephone number is (571)272-1510. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm.
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, Callie Shosho can be reached at (571) 272-1123. 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.
/KEVIN R KRUER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
Prosecution Insights