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 .
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) 1-6 and 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baum (4800600) and Raphael-Davis (6799337). Baum discloses a system for transforming a bed into a plush toy having a first head portion (1) with straps (6) for removably mounting to a headboard of the bed and a second body portion (4) with a plurality of limbs (2, 3) that can removably mount over a mattress of the bed by means of a removable attachment to a cover (column 2 lines 14-39) to form a life-size plush toy (Figs. 1 & 2). The head and limbs include interior compartments for receiving pillow filler material (8, 12) therein to provide volume such that the limbs can form body pillows (Figs. 3-6, column 2 line 40-column 3 line 5). Baum discloses the basic inventive concept with the exception of the head portion and the body portion being separate and distinct from each other. Raphael-Davis discloses a system of separate and distinct plush components that can include head (24) and body (20) components that can be mounted to a bed such as a crib to transform it into a plush toy (abstract, Figs. 1 & 4, column 6 lines 35-44). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art from the teaching of Raphael-Davis to modify the system of Baum such that the head and body components are separate and independent from each other for the predictable result of providing enhanced functionality and versatility to the system by enabling variations in the positioning and attachment of the components relative to each other.
Claim(s) 7-14 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baum and Raphael-Davis as applied above and further in view of Louie (6343968). Baum and Raphael-Davis disclose the basic inventive concept with the exception of the body component cover formed as a double layer blanket having a first primary cover foldably connected to a secondary cover. Louie discloses a plush toy having a body portion (12) that is configured as a double layer blanket by having a bottom primary cover and a foldable secondary cover with limbs (26-29) attached thereto (Figs. 1 & 6). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art from the teaching of Louie to modify the body component of Baum and Raphael-Davis to include a double layer blanket for the predictable result of providing enhanced utility and functionality to the system creating an enhanced sleeping experience.
Conclusion
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/A.M.H/Examiner, Art Unit 3711 /EUGENE L KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3711