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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “a common part” in claim 13 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “a common part” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. In so far the claim is understood as any material is considered to be a common part.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1, 3-7, 11-13, 16-17, 19-20, and 22-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Facey et al., U.S. Patent No. 7311484 B2.
Regarding claims 1, and 19, Facey ‘484 discloses a pallet lid 1, a load 2, a plurality of tensioning lines 13, ( see figure 3, claims 24-25), a winding assembly (see figure 9) comprising: a tensioner 37 with a slotted spindle (see figure 15, claim 20) and a tensioner axis (see drawing below, claim 17) to engage a tensioning line 13, a lever 60 with a lever axis (see drawing below, claim 16) comprising a fulcrum body (63, 64) and an elongated handle 19 extending from the fulcrum body, a drive linkage 53 coupling actuation of the lever 60 to motion of the tensioner 37 (i.e., 60 and 37 are approximately 180 degrees or an obtuse angle, as same as applicant, claim 5), and a retainer (71, 90) configured to be engaged following actuation of the lever in a first tensioning direction, to prevent movement of the lever in a second direction, opposite direction; and wherein the lever 60 has a stoke length associated therewith and able to actuate by a single stroke length from a home position to a tensioning position (i.e., as same as applicant, by locking and unlocking the strap to a full tensioning, claims 3-4); a return spring 48 with a bias force reaches the lever 60 via the drive linkage 53 (claims 6-7 and 26); a releaser (near 101, see figure 17), wherein the releaser is a push to release and deflect a catch 71 of the retainer 90 out of engagement with any material (e.g., plastic, claims 11-13), a drum 79 with an urger (a spring 81) and a drum axle (see drawing below, claim 22) which the tensioning line 13 is windable and un-windable (claim 23), see figures 1-30, and drawing below.
PNG
media_image1.png
414
532
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The claims 8-9 are patentable over the prior art of record because the teachings of the references taken as a whole do not show or render obvious the combination set forth in claims 8-9, including every structural element recited in the claim, as shown in figures 6-8.
None of the references of the prior art teach or suggest the elements of the device as advanced above and such do not provide the necessary motivation, absent applicant's specification, for modifying the device in the manner required by the claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANG K KIM whose telephone number is 571-272-6947. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday through Thursday from 10:30 A.M. to 9 P.M or Tuesday through Thursday from 10:30 A.M. to 7 P.M.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Robert Hodge, can be reached on (571) 272-2097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
SK
4/29/26
/SANG K KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654
Prosecution Insights