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
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) 1-3 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Pre-Grant Publication 2017/0043133 to Amano et al. (Amano hereinafter).
Regarding claim 1, Amano teaches a needle assembly comprising a needle (514), a cannula (522), a driving member (510), a holder (502), and that the holder rotates (Figs. 8-11) to insert the needle and cannula and further rotates (sufficient to release the driving member) to retract the needle.
Regarding claim 2, Amano teaches a first sliding member (516), a second sliding member (518) and wherein the holder (502) is connected to the first sliding member.
Regarding claim 3, Amano teaches a catching member (538) disposed on a movement path of the first sliding member and the second sliding member, wherein the second sliding member is caught and fixed by the catching member (see Fig. 10).
Regarding claim 7, Amano teaches a liquid medicine injection apparatus comprising a base body (9), a reservoir unit (4), a needle assembly and a driving module (3). Amano further teaches that the needle assembly comprising a needle (514), a cannula (522), a driving member (510), a holder (502), and that the holder rotates (Figs. 8-11) to insert the needle and cannula and further rotates (relative to the driving member) to retract the needle.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 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 limitations of a needle assembly having a holder on which a driving member is supported and wherein a first sliding member comprises a curved first slot hole into which a holder projection is inserted are not shown in or fairly suggested by the prior art of record in combination with the remaining limitations of claim 4.
Conclusion
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/PHILIP E STIMPERT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3783 16 July 2026
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