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 .
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.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN202420843291X, filed on 4/22/2024.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chang [5301912].
With respect to claim 1, Chang discloses: A fireplace retractable hook, comprising a mounting base (31) and a hook body (32) installed inside the mounting base, wherein the hook body comprises a installation part (42) extended in horizontal and a hook part (14) extended downwards and set at an outer side of the installation part [see FIGs 3-4]; a bottom surface of the mounting base is provided with a guide slot (21) extended along front-to-rear, the guide slot runs through at least one side of the mounting base, the installation part is arranged inside the guide slot, the hook part extends outside the guide slot, and the installation part is capable to move inside and outside the guide slot (via positioning groove 26) [see FIGs 7-9, col 2, line 55-col 3, line 2].
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang [5301912], further in view of Yang [9091414].
With respect to claim 2, Chang discloses the invention as substantially claimed, however does not show the use of a weighted block.
Yang makes up for these deficiencies by teaching:
{cl. 2} The fireplace retractable hook as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mounting base (15) comprises a shell (16) and a counterweight block (17), and the counterweight block is arranged on an inner side of a bottom of the shell [see FIGs 2 and 4, col 2, line 65-col 3, line 5].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of Chang with the teachings of Yang because provides a weighted block in the shell base in order to provide balance when the hook is in use.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang [5301912], further in view of Blomgren [1770062].
With respect to claim 10, Chang discloses the invention as substantially claimed, however does not show the soft cushion layer as claimed.
Blomgren makes up for these deficiencies by teaching:
{cl. 10} The fireplace retractable hook as claimed in claim 1, wherein a soft cushion layer (2) is provided on the bottom surface of the mounting base (1) [see FIG 1, page 1, right column, lines 64-70].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of Chang with the teachings of Blomgren because Blomgren provides a pad of felt to protect the surface of which the base resides.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-9 are 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 claims show a feature not found in the art and would require impermissible hindsight reasoning to combine. For example, Chang provides a dovetail-shaped guide block 33, however this is not a weighted block as required. Since Yang is provided to teach the weighted block, modification would need to be made to a teaching reference.
Conclusion
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/AVINASH A SAVANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
7/6/2026
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