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 .
Status of the Application
This action is responsive to the amendment dated 10/02/2025. Claims 1-16 remain pending. Claims 1-3 have been amended. The applicant’s amendment has necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection below. This action is Final.
Response to Remarks
Applicant’s amendment to the claims have overcome the 112(b) rejections in the last Office Action. The 112(b) rejections are withdrawn.
Applicant's amendment to recite wherein the projections have outermost surfaces that are coplanar, defining a planar exterior side-wall face that extends between the top wall and the bottom wall and lies in a plane perpendicular to planes of the top and bottom walls has overcome the rejection of record. However, a new ground(s) of rejection is applied to the claims below. As such, applicant's arguments with respect to the 103 rejection over Ginn in view of Boller have not been found persuasive. A new interpretation of Ginn in view of Boller as stated below in the 103 rejection teaches each and every limitation including wherein the projections have outermost surfaces that are coplanar, defining a planar exterior side-wall face that extends between the top wall and the bottom wall and lies in a plane perpendicular to planes of the top and bottom walls.
In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, Boller teaches the claimed structure to provide additional support. For at least this reason, the 103 rejection is maintained.
Applicant's amendments to the claims have necessitated further search and/or consideration and/or revision of the rejection, and accordingly, this action must be made Final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ginn (US 2015/0217899) in view of Boller (EP 3168374).
Regarding claim 1, Ginn discloses a plastic tank (100), comprising: a substantially rectangular outer shape having top, bottom, end, and side walls (Figs. 1-10); wherein the side walls comprise alternating depressions and projections (Fig. 1; para. [0025] – [0026]; see the alternating depressions and projections along the side walls); but fails to disclose wherein the depressions increase in depth from top to bottom to decrease internal volume of the plastic tank from top to bottom so that, in use, the side walls resist bulging under internal pressure from water stored in the plastic tank, wherein the projections have outermost surfaces that are coplanar, defining a planar exterior side-wall face that extends between the top wall and the bottom wall and lies in a plane perpendicular to planes of the top and bottom walls.
Boller teaches depressions (the depressions within 10) increase in depth from top to bottom (as shown in Fig. 3) to decrease internal volume of the plastic tank from top to bottom so that, in use, the side walls resist bulging under internal pressure from water stored in the plastic tank (para. [0017]; these functional limitations are necessarily true when utilizing ribs), wherein the projections have outermost surfaces that are coplanar, defining a planar exterior side-wall face that extends between the top wall and the bottom wall and lies in a plane perpendicular to planes of the top and bottom walls (see how the outermost part at the bottom part of each projection lies on the same vertical plane that is perpendicular to a plane formed along the top and bottom walls).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to modify the alternating depressions and projections of Ginn to increase in depth from top to bottom as taught by Boller in order to provide the necessary support based on the forces acting outward from the fluid contained within the container. (para. [0017])
Regarding claim 2, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 1, wherein the projections increase in height from top to bottom in proportion to the increasing depth of the depressions so as to maintain the coplanarity of the outermost surfaces of the projections (as taught by Boller). (Fig. 3)
Regarding claim 3, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 1, wherein the depressions and projections have a substantially constant wall thickness from top to bottom. (Fig. 3 – Boller)
Regarding claim 4, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 1, but fails to disclose wherein the depressions and projections comprise concave scallops and convex scallops, respectively.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to modify the transitions between the projections and depressions to be concave and convex since applicant has not disclosed that having convex and concave edges solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the device would perform equally well with either designs.
Furthermore, absent a teaching as to criticality that having convex and concave edges, this particular arrangement is deemed to have been known by those skilled in the art since the instant specification and evidence of record fail to attribute any significance (novel or unexpected results) to a particular arrangement. In re Kuhle, 526 F.2d 553,555,188 USPQ 7, 9 (CCPA 1975). In this case, Applicant merely states in para. [0025] that:
The depressions 20 and projections 22 may, for example, be concave scallops 20 and convex scallops 22, respectively. The concave and convex scallops 20, 22 may be arranged in parallel, vertically staggered relationship.
Regarding claim 5, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 4, wherein the concave and convex scallops are arranged in parallel, vertically staggered relationship. (Figs. 1 and 2)
Regarding claim 6, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 1, wherein the side walls comprise two pairs of vertical rebates (the rebates on the ends of the projections along the long side of 100) to receive two pairs of support columns to support the plastic tank. (note that the support columns are not positively recited)
Regarding claim 7, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 6, wherein the top wall comprises a pair of horizontal rebates to receive a pair of top brackets to interlock tops of the two pairs of support columns. (Fig. 8; para. [0044]; see how multiple 100 are configured to interlock with one another)
Regarding claim 8, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 7, further comprising a pair of bottom brackets to interlock bottoms of the two pairs of support columns. (Fig. 8; para. [0044])
Regarding claim 9, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 8, wherein the pair of bottom brackets and the bottoms of the two pairs of support columns are set in a pair of concrete footings. (the bottom brackets and support columns are at least capable of being set in a pair of concrete footings)
Regarding claim 10, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 1, wherein a pair of water connection ports (104) is provided at top and bottom of each end wall to receive rainwater in the plastic tank and overflow rainwater out of the plastic tank.
Regarding claim 11, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 1, wherein end flanges are provided on each end wall to mount spacer panels to join the plastic tank to another plastic tank and cover space between the two plastic tanks. (Exhibit A)
Exhibit A
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Regarding claim 12, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 1, wherein solid internal voids (102) are provided between the side walls to mount wall cladding to cover the side walls of the plastic tank.
Regarding claim 13, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 7, wherein top recesses are provided in the pair of top brackets (the top brackets necessarily include recesses as shown in Fig. 8) to mount wall accessories on top of the plastic tank.
Regarding claim 14, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose the plastic tank of claim 13, wherein the wall accessories are selected from the group comprising lattice panels, water misters, sprinklers, vertical gardens, solar panels, battery storage, lighting, and sound speakers. (note that the wall accessories are not positively recited so this limitation is necessarily met)
Regarding claim 15, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose a system for storing rainwater comprising one or more of the plastic tanks of claim 1. (as shown in Fig. 8)
Regarding claim 16, Ginn in view of Boller further disclose a wall comprising one or more of the plastic tanks of claim 1. (as shown in Fig. 8, see how multiple tanks can be stacked to make a wall)
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL J GRAY whose telephone number is (571)270-0544. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday - Friday.
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/PAUL J GRAY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753