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 without traverse of Group I, claims 1-4, 8-9, 15-19 and 23-25 in the reply filed on November 24, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the” is misspelled as “thte.” Appropriate correction is required.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 8, 15-17, 23 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hansen (WO 2020/182260; paragraph references to corresponding US 2022/0152962).
Claim 1: Hansen discloses a direct injection footwear mold assembly (abstract). The assembly includes two side basic molds (fig. 19b; 142, 144), and a bottom basic mold including a bottom mold attachment arrangement (146), the bottom basic mold having x, y and z directions and the arrangement of the bottom basic mold being arranged to fixate a bottom mold insert (176) in the z direction to the bottom basic mold (fig. 19b).
Claim 2: Hansen discloses each of the two side basic molds includes a basic side mold (142, 144) and a respective side mold insert (172, 174; figs. 19a-b).
Claim 3: Hansen discloses each of the two side basic molds includes a side mold attachment arrangement, the respective side mold attachment arrangements of the basic side mold (142, 144) being arranged to releasably fixate a respective side mold insert to the basic side mold (17s, 174; figs. 19a-b).
Claim 4: Hansen discloses the bottom mold insert is 3D printed (¶¶ 137, 290).
Claim 8: Hansen discloses the bottom mold attachment arrangement of the bottom basic mold includes two fixation points (fig. 19b).
Claim 15: Hansen discloses the bottom mold attachment arrangement of the bottom basic mold includes a plurality of fixation points forming part of sequentially arranged fixation points (fig. 19b).
Claim 16: Hansen discloses the fixation points are provided by guide rails in which the bottom basic mold and the bottom mold insert are capable of sliding into each other, thereby providing a fixation of the bottom mold insert onto the bottom basic mold (fig. 19b).
Claim 17: Hansen discloses the two fixation points are provided by a tongue of the bottom mold insert and a groove of the bottom basic mold, said tongue and groove being configured for mutually fitting and being slidingly engageable (fig. 19b).
Claim 23: Hansen discloses the two fixation points are distributed in the x direction of the bottom mold and the bottom mold insert (fig. 19b).
Claim 25: Hansen discloses the bottom mold attachment arrangement of the bottom basic mold is arranged to releasably fixate the bottom mold insert in the z direction to the bottom basic mold (fig. 19b).
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.
Claims 9 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hansen (WO 2020/182260; paragraph references to corresponding US 2022/0152962), as applied to claim 8 above.
Hansen is silent as to the claimed distances. However, absent evidence of unexpected results obtained from utilizing the claimed distances, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have selected a suitable distance to allow for coupling of the insert to the mold. The optimization of a range or other variable within the claims that flows from the “normal desire of scientists or artisans to improve upon what is already generally known” is prima facie obvious. In re Peterson, 315 F.3d 1325, 1330 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (determining where in a disclosed set of percentage ranges the optimum combination of percentages lies is prima facie obvious). The discovery of an optimum value of a variable in a known process is usually obvious. In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456 (C.C.P.A. 1955). See also In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 276 (C.C.P.A. 1980) (“[D]iscovery of an optimum value of a result effective variable in a known process is ordinarily within the skill of the art.”). See also In re Geisler, 116 F.3d 1465, 1470 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (“‘[I]t is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.’” (quoting Aller, 220 F.2d at 456)); In re Kulling, 897 F.2d 1147, 1149 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (finding no clear error in Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences’ conclusion that the amount of eluent to be used in a washing sequence was a matter of routine optimization known in the pertinent prior art and therefore obvious).
Claims 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hansen (WO 2020/182260; paragraph references to corresponding US 2022/0152962), as applied to claim 17 above, in view of Huber (US 2017/0113387).
Hansen is silent as to the claimed shapes. However, Huber discloses a direct injection mold assembly includes inserts having a tongue and groove configuration with the mold and having a width increasing towards a free end of the tongue and a taper in a direction of sliding engagement with each other (¶ 22; dovetail locking connections; figs. 13, 14A-C). As taught by Huber, utilizing dovetail connections between the mold and mold insert allows for precision mating and molding. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have utilized the dovetail connections of Huber in the mold and insert of Hansen to allow for precision mating of the mold and insert.
Conclusion
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/LARRY W THROWER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754