DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 21, 29 and 35 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claims 21, 29 and 35:
Each of the claims recite a limitation stating that the latch is first coupled to a damper blade and further that the latch in an expanded configuration where the latch is pivoted away from the inner surface of the frame, a deformed configuration where the latch is pivoted toward the inner surface of the frame and a partially expanded configuration in which the latch is positioned when the damper blade is closed. Looking to Applicant’s specification, the only embodiments where the latch is positioned so as to expand and deform in the directions as described above are shown in figures 1-8 where the latch is coupled to the inner surface of the frame. However, the latch as presented in each of the independent claims is coupled to the damper itself, shown in figures 9-14. The latch of figures 9-14 has an expansion and deformation direction inverse to what is recited in the claims and further has no partial deformation configuration when the damper is in a closed position, see figure 12 showing the latch being fully expanded toward the frame when the damper is in a closed position. Despite Applicants generic recitation in paragraph [0072] of their specification stating that the embodiments can be combined, Applicant’s specification does not provide one of ordinary skill in the art with the necessary description to combine the embodiments of figures 1-8 with the embodiments of figures 9-14, as each of the embodiments recite mutually exclusive features as described above. Therefore each of the independent claims are rejected for lack of written description.
Claims 22-28, 30-34 and 36-40 are rejected based on their dependency to the independent claims.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/M.J.G./Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/STEVEN B MCALLISTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3762