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 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.
Claims 7, 12, 13 are 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.
Regarding claim 7, the terms “approximately” are not definite because they don’t provide measurable standard of degree. The instant specification doesn’t provide the boundary of these terms.
Regarding claims 12 and 13, it is not clear what is meant by “some.” The claim is treated as not all of the connector supports are closer to the primary supports and not all of the connector supports attached to the buccal auxiliary support.
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, 3, 14, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kopelman et al. (7,347,688).
PNG
media_image1.png
198
400
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 1, Kopelman discloses a dental overlay device (e.g. 100) capable for the placement of one or more veneers in a mouth of a patient comprising a curved body (e.g. curved matching dental arc), the curved body comprising: a body surface complementary to and configured/capable for contacting portions of one or more teeth in the mouth of a patient, including distal teeth on opposite sides of the patient’s mouth, to secure the curved body in a suitable position on the patient’s teeth; and a plurality of holes (e.g. 50) extending through the curved body and corresponding to locations on a plurality of teeth.
Regarding claim 2 first and second portions of the body surface are configured for contacting molars on opposite sides of the patient’s mouth (e.g. ends of the tray), and wherein the first and second portions of the body surface are solid without holes therethrough (see fig. 1).
Regarding claim 3 the curved body defines individual tooth forms each having an outline of a portion of a tooth of the teeth in the patient’s mouth and through which the holes extend, and wherein, for each tooth form having a hole extending therethrough, a maximum of two holes extend through each individual tooth form of the curved body (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 14, Kopelman discloses one or more veneers (e.g. elements to be attached on teeth; and the dental overlay device of claim 1 as addressed above, wherein the one or more veneers are removably attachable to the body surface.
Regarding claim 20 Kopelman discloses a dental overlay system capable for the placement of veneers (e.g. elements for the teeth) into a mouth of a patient, the dental overlay system comprising: two or more veneers (e.g. elements);
and the dental overlay device of claim 15 which claims a dental overlay device (e.g. fig. 1) capable for the placement of one or more veneers in the mouth of a patient comprising a curved body (e.g. following dental arch), the curved body comprising: a body surface complementary to and configured/capable for contacting portions of teeth in the mouth of a patient, including distal teeth on opposite sides of the patient’s mouth, capable to secure the body in a suitable position on the patient’s teeth; a lingual auxiliary support (e.g. side facing tongue); and connector supports (e.g. portions between lingual and buccal side) extending from the lingual auxiliary support, wherein the two or more veneers/elements are removably attachable to the body surface of the dental overlay device.
Claim(s) 1, 8-11, 15-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Farrell (2010/0227289).
Regarding claim 1, Farrell discloses a dental overlay device (e.g. 71) capable for the placement of one or more veneers in a mouth of a patient comprising a curved body (e.g. curved matching dental arc), the curved body comprising: a body surface complementary to and configured/capable for contacting portions of one or more teeth in the mouth of a patient, including distal teeth on opposite sides of the patient’s mouth, to secure the curved body in a suitable position on the patient’s teeth; and a plurality of holes (e.g. 77) extending through the curved body and corresponding to locations on a plurality of teeth.
Regarding claims 8, 9, 10 the curved body of the dental overlay device further comprises a lingual auxiliary support (e.g. on lingual side), a buccal auxiliary support (e.g. buccal side e.g. front), and connector supports (e.g. 83) extending between the lingual auxiliary support and the buccal auxiliary support, wherein the connector supports are spaced apart from one another capable to allow for flossing in a space between two or more connector supports, wherein the lingual auxiliary support, the buccal auxiliary support, and the connector supports together define openings through the dental overlay device (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 11, portions of the body surface complementary to and configured/capable for contacting the distal teeth (e.g. back teeth towards molar sides) on opposite sides of the patient’s mouth are primary supports and the buccal auxiliary support (e.g. front) and lingual auxiliary support (e.g. back side) extend between the primary supports.
Regarding claims 15, 16, 17, 18 Farrell discloses a dental overlay device (e.g. fig. 1) capable for the placement of one or more veneers in the mouth of a patient comprising a curved body (e.g. following dental arch), the curved body comprising: a body surface complementary to and configured/capable for contacting portions of teeth in the mouth of a patient, including distal teeth on opposite sides of the patient’s mouth, capable to secure the body in a suitable position on the patient’s teeth; a lingual auxiliary support (e.g. backside facing tongue); and connector supports (e.g. 83s) extending from the lingual auxiliary support, wherein the curved body further comprises a buccal auxiliary support (e.g. frontside, e.g. 81), and wherein the connector supports extend between the lingual auxiliary support and the buccal auxiliary support (fig. 1), wherein the connector supports are spaced apart from one another capable to allow for flossing in a space between two or more connector supports, wherein portions of the body surface complementary to and configured/capable for contacting the distal teeth (e.g. towards molar side) on opposite sides of the patient’s mouth are primary supports (e.g. see 83 at the end towards the back of the device) and the lingual auxiliary support extends between the primary supports, wherein the primary supports (e.g. 83) are configured/capable for contacting molars on opposite sides of the patient’s mouth.
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) 4, 5, 6, 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kopelman et al as applied to claim 1 above.
Kopelman discloses the invention substantially as claimed and further discloses the curved body defines individual tooth forms (fig. 1) each having an outline of a portion of a tooth of the teeth in the patient’s mouth and through which the holes extend, and wherein, for each tooth form having a hole extending therethrough except for the overlay including minimum of 3 or 16 or 30 holes and maximum of 6 or 20 or 60 holes as claimed; however, such depends on how many elements are needed to be fixed on teeth. If a patient’s needs all of their teeth with elements, then holes for each tooth would be created.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify the device by providing desired number of holes including at least 16 or maximum of 20 in order to treat the patient’s needs.
Regarding the diameter of the hole, such parameter would depend on the size of the elements needed for the patient, thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify the device by providing the size of the hole of appropriate size depending on patient’s need order to treat the patient’s teeth.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-13 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 and overcoming 112 2nd rejection as set forth above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner Patel Yogesh whose telephone number is (571) 270-3646. The examiner can normally be reached between 9 AM – 5:30 PM on Monday, Thursday and Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner’s supervisor, SPE Bosques Edelmira, at (571) 270-5614.
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). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YOGESH P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3772
Prosecution Insights