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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Keane (US PGPub 2003/0204195)
Regarding Claim 1, Keane teaches a suture anchor driver (Figure 3), comprising:
a handle (8; Figure 3) having a proximal end (end closest to element 14), a distal end (end closest to element 9), and a locking arm (11) with a pawl (protuberance) extending therefrom (Figure 3; Paragraph 0033);
a recess (13) in the handle (8) with a barrier member (14) extending across the recess (8; Figure 3; Paragraph 0033), the recess (13) configured to retain a spool (1; Figure 3) having a first surface (side surface) and a second surface (20) with at least partially separated first and second channels extending therebetween (Figure 1; Paragraph 0022-0024);
a plurality of teeth (20; Figure 1) extending radially from the second surface of the spool (1; Paragraph 0028);
a recess (3) within the second channel of the spool configured to store needles connected to a length of suture (Paragraph 0024);
wherein in a first configuration (Figure 2), the pawl (protuberance) of the locking arm (11) extends between two of the plurality of teeth (20; Figure 3; as described in Paragraph 0033-0034) and in a second configuration (Figure 6), the locking arm (11) is displaced such that the pawl is above the plurality of teeth (Figure 6; Paragraph 0033-0034); and
wherein the spool (1) is not rotatable in the first configuration and is rotatable in the second configuration (Paragraph 0033).
Regarding Claim 2, Keane teaches the suture anchor driver of claim 1, further comprising a slot (distal opening in the handle) in the distal end of handle configured to receive a feature of a guide (9; Figure 3).
Regarding Claim 3, Keane teaches the suture anchor driver of claim 2, wherein the feature of the guide displaces the locking arm of the handle when the feature is within the slot (the Examiner notes that the feature of the guide is not positively recited in the claims and thus as seen in Figure 2, it is possible that a feature of a guide be used to open door 11).
Regarding Claim 4, Keane teaches the suture anchor driver of claim 1, further comprising a driver (9) extending from the distal end of the handle (Figure 2).
Regarding Claim 5, Keane teaches the suture anchor driver of claim 1, wherein rotation of the spool in the second configuration releases tension in the length of suture (Paragraph 0033).
Regarding Claim 7, Keane teaches the suture anchor driver of claim 1, wherein a length of suture (6) connected to a suture anchor (10) is wrapped around the spool, the length of suture (6) extending from the distal end of the handle (8; Figure 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 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 prior art of record fails to disclose:
wherein the needles are at least partially within a foam block, the foam block stored within the recess within the second channel of the spool.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMED GAMIL GABR whose telephone number is (571)272-0569. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jackie Ho can be reached at (571) 270-5953. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MOHAMED GAMIL GABR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3771
/MOHAMED G GABR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3771