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
Applicant's election with traverse of Species G, Figure 7, in the reply filed on August 18, 2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that examination of additional claims does not add significant search or examination burden. This is not found persuasive because although examiner may need to look in similar subclasses for each species, there exists an *examination* burden when looking for mutually exclusive structures in the same subclass. Additionally, Examiner is interpreting the species not to be obvious variants. If Applicant believes them obvious variants, a supplemental response should be submitted in order to clarify this.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Accordingly, claims 3-4, 9-12 are withdrawn from examination. Claims 1-2, 5-8 remain under consideration in the instant application.
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) 1-2, 5-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bottlang et al. (US 2012/0310289), hereinafter “Bottlang”.
Regarding claim 1, Bottlang discloses a plate implant (601, FIGS. 6-8) for bridging a fracture gap, having: a longitudinal axis (604) in the direction of a largest extent of the plate implant; a plurality of bores (605) which are arranged spaced apart from each other in the direction of the longitudinal axis; and an elastic longitudinal expansion device (606/608) which is provided at least between two of said plurality of bores; wherein the longitudinal expansion device is configured such that the plate implant has increased expansibility (FIG. 7) in the direction of the longitudinal axis but at the same time has high bending stiffness and torsion stiffness (¶125).
Regarding claim 2, Bottlang discloses the plate implant for bridging a fracture gap as claimed in claim 1, wherein the longitudinal expansion device has an elastic element (608) which is incorporated into the plate implant.
Regarding claim 5, Bottlang discloses the plate implant for bridging a fracture gap as claimed in claim 1, wherein the longitudinal expansion device comprises at least one leaf spring (608) which is formed by one or more notches in the plate implant.
Regarding claim 6, Bottlang discloses the plate implant for bridging a fracture gap as claimed in claim 5, wherein the at least one leaf spring is formed by u-shaped notches in the plate implant which surround a respective one of said plurality of bores (¶104).
Regarding claim 7, Bottlang discloses the plate implant for bridging a fracture gap as claimed in claim 6, wherein a first plurality of said u-shaped notches is configured such that the u-shape is open towards a left edge of the plate implant, and a second plurality of said u-shaped notches is configured such that the u-shape is open towards an opposite right edge of the plate implant (FIGS. 6).
Regarding claim 8, Bottlang discloses the plate implant for bridging a fracture gap as claimed in claim 6, wherein the notches overlap laterally (FIGS. 6).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLIVIA C CHANG whose telephone number is (571) 270-5017. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7:30AM-5:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner’s supervisor, KEVIN TRUONG, at (571) 272-4705. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571 -273-8300.
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/OLIVIA C CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3775