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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-10 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 02/05/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 07/18/2024 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. The U.S. Patent document has been considered, but the foreign document has not been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claim(s) 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bateman et al., U.S. Patent 9,598,875.
Regarding claim 11, Bateman discloses a telescoping mast assembly comprising: a fixed portion including a tube (24) with an opening (44); and a movable portion (64) including a pulley assembly (70) and a pin (66), the pin extending through the opening (see Fig. 9); the movable portion being movable between an engaged position in which the pin extends a first distance out of the opening and a disengaged position in which the pin extends a second distance out of the opening (see Figs. 8-9, generally; col. 6, lines 5-36).
Regarding clam 12, Bateman discloses a telescoping mast assembly wherein the first distance is greater than the second distance (in the cocked position as described in col. 6, lines 5-36, the distance from the opening will be greater than the distance when engaged with the slot).
Regarding claim 13, Bateman discloses a telescoping mast assembly further comprising a spring (56) that biases the movable portion into the engaged position.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-20 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. The closest prior art of record fails to disclose or make obvious a telescoping mast assembly stop including all of the claimed components, the spring being located within the tube.
Conclusion
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GISELE D. FORD
Examiner
Art Unit 3633
/GISELE D FORD/Examiner, Art Unit 3633