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 Objections
Claims 1-3 and 5-24 objected to because of the following informalities: Independent claim 1 preamble states “A hair styling apparatus” making the scope of the claim appear to be drawn to the styling apparatus as a subcombination, however, the claims are drawn to the combination of a hair containment member and a heating apparatus. Please change the preamble to reflect “A hair styling system” to set forth a system that includes the combination of the hair containment member and heating apparatus. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-3 and 5-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sunderland (WO 2019/224530) in view of Coffee (US 2020/0205543).
Sunderland discloses hair styling apparatus comprising: a hair containment member (32) for encapsulating an amount of hair, and a heating apparatus (10) for heating the hair containment member and the amount of hair encapsulated therein, wherein the hair containment member includes upper and lower surfaces (42, 44), the amount of hair being encapsulated between the upper and lower surfaces, wherein the heating apparatus comprises first and second arms (12, 14), each arm having a handle (18, 20) portion coupled to a clamping portion (22, 24), the arms being coupled to each other adjacent the handle portions, allowing the clamping portions to be moveable relative to each other between an open position and a closed position in which the device encapsulating the amount of hair may be held between the clamping portions (see Figures 1 and 2), wherein the clamping portion of at least one of the first and second arms houses a heater element (page 6, lines 24-26) and wherein with the clamping portion in the closed position the apparatus substantially seals the encapsulated hair during heating thereof against egress of moisture liberated from the encapsulated hair during said heating from the apparatus to the surrounding environment, and wherein during cooling, with the heating apparatus removed from the hair containment member, said hair containment member confines at least partially moisture between the upper and lower surfaces, and wherein the said clamping portions of the heating apparatus in said closed position form a chamber (see Figures 1-4). Sunderland discloses the claimed invention except for the heating apparatus including seal means comprising a sealing element mounted on at least one of the said clamping portions and adapted to seal the chamber when the heating apparatus is in the said closed position. Coffee teaches a hair device comprising a sealing means wherein the sealing means comprising an o-ring sealing element (502) to seal the device in use (see Figure 5; paragraph 91). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have the device of Sunderland be made with a sealing means as taught by Coffee to allow for a secure, sealed connection between the clamping members reducing heat loss.
Sunderland further discloses: Claim 2, the heating apparatus is configured in its closed position to compress the hair containment member (32) between opposing clamping surfaces (28, 30) of the respective clamping portions and to press the peripheral edge regions of upper and lower surfaces of the hair containment member against each other providing a peripheral seal around the hair containment member (see Figure 4b). Claim 3, the hair containment member (32) includes a connector portion (34) extending between and connecting the upper and lower surfaces and wherein in closing the heating apparatus everts the connector portion (see Figures 5a-5c). Claim 5, the shape of the hair containment member is one of: circular and rectangular (see Figure 5a). Claim 6, hair containment member is formed of an elastomeric material (col. 6, lines 10-15). Claim 7, Sunderland discloses the claimed invention except for the elastomeric material is silicone rubber. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to the material be silicon rubber, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. Claim 8, it further would have been obvious to have the elastomer has a heat conductivity of between 0.18 and 0.8 W/m, since it is a known heat conductivity of silicone rubber. Claim 9, the combination of the shape and dimension of the hair containment member and the thermal conductivity of the elastomer are such that the temperature of hair contained in the hair curler does not exceed 100C when subjected to a temperature in the range of 90C to 235C for a period of between 15 and 30 seconds (page 8, lines 1-5). Claim 10, each of the clamping portions of at least one of the first and second arms houses a heater element (page 2, lines 10-25). Claim 11, the clamping portion of the first arm houses a heater element and includes a concave shaped surface heatable by the heater element and the clamping portion (page 2, lines 5-20) of the second arm includes a convex shaped clamping surface, and wherein when the clamping portions are in a closed position, the heatable surface of the first arm and the clamping surface of the second arm press against and seal the upper and lower surfaces of the hair containment member. Claim 12, comprising a controller to control the temperature of the convex shaped clamping surface of the second arm (page 2, lines 15-20). Claim 13, the temperature of the convex shaped clamping surface of the second arm can be heated to a temperature selected from the group comprising: 0°C, 70°C, 100°C, 220°C, 230°C, and 235°C (page 2, lines 20-25). Claim 14, wherein the controller controls the temperature of each the heatable surface (page 2, lines 15-25). Claim 15, a temperature sensor to detect the temperature of the or each heatable surface and/or the clamping surface of the second arm (page 7). Claim 16, Sunderland does not disclose each heatable surface may be heated to a temperature of up to 235°C. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date have the device be heatable up to 235, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In this instance case, tempetures to retain hair curl without damaging the hair and known and testable values. Claim 17, each heatable surface is fabricated from a material selected from the group comprising consisting of: aluminium, steel, and titanium and ceramic and/or is coated with a material selected from the group comprising: ceramic, tourmaline and Teflon (page 7, lines 1-5). Claim 18, the method for forming a curl in hair using the hair styling apparatus comprising the steps of: (a) encapsulating a section of hair in the hair containment member; (b) heating the a heatable surface(s) surface of the heating apparatus; (c) grasping the hair containment member between the clamping portions of the hair styling device; (d) compressing the curl forming apparatus between the clamping surfaces of the heating apparatus for a predetermined period of time; and (e) releasing the hair containment member from the heating apparatus; (f) allowing the encapsulated section of hair to cool to a threshold temperature in the hair containment member (page 10). Claim 19, the predetermined period of time is selected from the group consisting of: in the range of one of: 10 to 40 seconds; 10 to 30 seconds; 10 to 20 seconds: 10 to 15 seconds: 15 to 20 seconds; or is and 18 seconds (page 10). Claim 20, further comprising an additional step of applying a product hair styling product and/or heat protection to the section of hair prior to step (a), the product selected from the group consisting of: a hair styling product and a heat protection product (page 11). Claim 21, further comprising an additional step of applying a hair styling product and/or a heat protection product to the section of hair after step (a) and before step (b) (page 11). Claim 22, Sunderland discloses the claimed invention except for the product is a hair styling product that is a keratin-based product. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to the material be keratin-based product, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice .Claim 23, wherein steps (c) to (f) are repeated at least once (page 11). Claim 24, the heatable surface is coated with a material selected from the group consisting of: ceramic, tourmaline and Teflon (page 10).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RACHEL RUNNING STEITZ whose telephone number is (571)272-1917. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm EST.
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/RACHEL R STEITZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3772
10/31/2025