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Claims 5 and 9-11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 31 July 2026.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 29 April 2025 and 23 May 2024. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-4, 6, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Walterscheid (US 9,833,720 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Walterscheid discloses a connecting tool comprising:
a plug member (A in annotated Figure 3 below); and
a socket member (B in annotated Figure 3 below), wherein
the plug member includes at least one pair of elastic clips (C in annotated Figure 3 below), and the pair of elastic clips each include a claw portion (D in annotated Figure 3 below) facing an outside of the plug member (see Fig. 3), and rear surfaces of the elastic clips, which are back sides of surfaces on which the claw portions are present, face inward (see Fig. 3),
the socket member includes at least one pair of openings (L in annotated Figure 3 below) configured to be engaged with the elastic clips (see Fig. 3),
when a direction in which the plug member is to be inserted into the socket member is defined as an insertion direction (vertical direction in Figs. 3 and 5) and a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction is defined as a release slide direction (direction into and out of the page in Figs. 3 and 5), the claw portion has a claw surface (G in annotated Figure 3 below) on a claw portion engagement side configured to be engaged in the insertion direction (see Figs. 3 and 5) and a release side inclined surface (lateral side surface shown by H in annotated Figure 3 below) configured to be engaged in the release slide direction (see Figs. 3 and 5), and the opening has a first step portion (E in annotated Figure 3 below) configured to be engaged with the claw surface on the claw portion engagement side (see Figs. 3 and 5) and second step portions (side surfaces F in annotated Figure 3 below) configured to be engaged with the release side inclined surface (see Figs. 3 and 5), and
by operating the plug member in the release slide direction with respect to the socket member from a state in which the plug member is engaged with the socket member (see Fig. 5), an engagement between the release side inclined surface and the second step portions is released (see Fig. 3), and the plug member is separated from the socket member by further moving the plug member in the insertion direction with respect to the socket member from this state (see Fig. 3).
Applicant is reminded that "[E]ven though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process." In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
Accordingly, all the process limitations of operating the plug member are given limited patentable weight, all that is required of claim 1 is that the plug member is capable of being operated in the claimed manner.
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Figure 1. Annotated Figure 3.
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Figure 2. Annotated Figure 3.
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Figure 3. Annotated Figure 3.
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Figure 4. Annotated Figure 3.
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Figure 5. Annotated Figure 3.
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Figure 6. Annotated Figure 3.
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Figure 7. Annotated Figure 3.
Regarding claim 2, Walterscheid discloses wherein in the state in which the plug member (A in annotated Figure 3 above) is engaged with the socket member (B in annotated Figure 3 above), the claw surface (G in annotated Figure 3 above) on the claw portion engagement side, which is a surface of the claw portion facing the first step portion (E in annotated Figure 3 above), is a surface inclined with respect to an engaged surface of the first step portion (see Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 3, Walterscheid discloses wherein the plug member (A in annotated Figure 3 above) includes a base plate portion (12) to which the elastic clips are to be attached (see Fig. 3), and a surface of the base plate portion (I in annotated Figure 3 below) opposite to a surface on which the elastic clips are extended is an insertion-side front surface (see Fig. 3).
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Figure 8. Annotated Figure 3.
Regarding claim 4, Walterscheid discloses wherein attachment portions (M in annotated Figure 3 below) are provided on both sides of the base plate portion (12) of the plug member (A in annotated Figure 3 above) via insertion-side side surface portions, respectively.
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Figure 9. Annotated Figure 3.
Regarding claim 6, Walterscheid discloses wherein the openings (L in annotated Figure 3 above) of the socket member (B in annotated Figure 3 above) each have an inverted U-shaped space (see NOTE below), one side portion of the inverted U-shaped space is the first step portion (E in annotated Figure 3 above), two side portions on both sides of the one side portion on which the first step portion is provided are the second step portions (F in annotated Figure 3 above), and a side facing the side on which the first step portion is provided is opened (see Fig. 3).
NOTE: The opening of the socket member has an inverted U-shape when viewed along the axis K in annotated Figure 3 below.
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Figure 10. Annotated Figure 3.
Regarding claim 8, Walterscheid discloses wherein the plug member (A in annotated Figure 3 above) includes two or more sets of the elastic clips (J in annotated Figure 3 below), and a wall portion (18) is provided between the elastic clips (see Fig. 3).
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Figure 11. Annotated Figure 3.
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) 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walterscheid (US 9,833,720 B2) in view of Takahashi (US 9,615,633 B2).
Regarding claim 7, Walterscheid discloses wherein one side (one of the lateral side surfaces of H in annotated Figure 3 above) of the claw portion (D in annotated Figure 3 above), which is opposite to another side on which the release side inclined surface (one of the lateral side surfaces shown by H in annotated Figure 3 above) is provided, but fails to disclose wherein the one side of the claw portion is a vertical surface.
However, Takahashi teaches side surfaces (see Fig. 6) of the claw portion (25) being vertical (see Fig. 6), in order to provide a plug and socket member that have an aesthetically pleasing fitment and connection.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the connecting tool of Walterscheid, with Takahashi, such that the claw portion of Walterscheid has vertical side surfaces as taught by Takahashi, in order to provide a plug and socket member that have an aesthetically pleasing fitment and connection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZACHARY A HALL whose telephone number is (571)272-5907. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday 8:00am to 4:00pm.
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/ZAH/Examiner, Art Unit 3678
/AMBER R ANDERSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3678
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