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 § 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 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Darney (GB2,439,328) in view of Caputo (EP1561890). Darney teaches a refrigerator (Fig. 4a) comprising: a main body (402) forming a storage compartment; a door (210) configured to open and close the storage compartment and including a guide rail (412 on 408); and a hinge bracket (406) connecting the main body and the door so that the door is rotatable about a rotation axis (at 418) between an open position at which the storage compartment is open (Fig. 5d), and a closed position at which the storage compartment is closed (Fig. 5a), wherein the guide rail is spaced apart from the rotation axis, the hinge bracket includes a guide shaft (416) inserted into the guide rail and configured to guide rotation of the door, and the guide rail includes: a first end (416 location on rail shown in Fig. 5a) where the guide shaft is located when the door is in the closed position, a second end where the guide shaft is located when the door is in the open position (416 location on rail shown in Fig. 5d), a free area between the first end and the second end having a first width (416 location on rail shown in Fig. 5c) and having an arc shape approximately centered on the rotation axis. For claim 18, Darney fails to teach limited areas between the first and second ends and the free area, respectively, having second or third widths, respectively, which are less than a first width of the free area. Caputo teaches a guide rail (Figs. 1 & 2) having a limited area (16a,17a) between its first end (at 21) and a free area (at 22), the limited area having a second width (d12) which is less than a first width of the free area (see Fig. 2). The guide rail also teaches a second end (at 23) having an opening limited area (16b,17b) between the second end and the free area having a third width (d13) which is less than the first width. It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the guide rail of Darney by adding limited areas, such as is taught by Caputo, adjacent the first and second ends, to provide a locking/dampening mechanism with the hinge device when the door is in the open and closed positions.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-17 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claim 18, filed April 21, 2026, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. As stated at the interview, the reference of Caputo (EP1561890) teaches plural limited areas on a curved guide rail. It would have obvious to modify the guide rail of Darney (GB2,439,328) by adding limited areas, such as is taught by Caputo, adjacent the first and second ends, to provide a locking/dampening mechanism with the hinge device when the door is in the open and closed positions.
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Wilkens
May 7, 2026
/JANET M WILKENS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3637
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