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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species III encompassed in claims 1-7, 9-12, 14-17 in the reply filed on 2/1/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 8 and 13 are withdrawn as being drawn to a nonelected species.
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.
Claims 1, 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Murray US 5,802,776 (hereinafter ‘Murray’).
In regard to claim 1, Murray teaches a rain gutter system, comprising:
a rain gutter (13);
a downspout (32) coupled to the rain gutter (via 31); and
a rain gutter trap (21) removably coupled to the rain gutter (note that the trap can be removed in the same manner that it is installed per col. 5, ln . 66 – col. 6, ln. 3, that is, by removing the straps 33), the rain gutter trap including a first component (one side of the corner as illustrated in fig. 5) configured to allow passage of water from the rain gutter to the downspout while blocking debris from the downspout during a first mode (col. 6, ln. 55) and configured to be removed from the rain gutter and emptied during a second mode (note that the trap can be removed by undoing the straps, thus per MPEP 2114 the limitation is met by Murray).
In regard to claim 4, Murray teaches the claimed invention wherein the rain gutter trap further includes a second component (other side of the corner as illustrated in fig. 5) configured to allow passage of water from the rain gutter to the downspout while blocking debris from the downspout during the first mode (col. 6, ln. 55) and configured to be removed from the rain gutter and emptied during the second mode (note that the trap can be removed by undoing the straps, thus per MPEP 2114 the limitation is met by Murray).
Claims 3, 14, 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Allard US 2005/0109693 A1 (hereinafter ‘Allard’).
In regard to claim 3, the Examiner notes that the recitation "a rain gutter trap" has not given patentable weight because the recitation occurs in the preamble. A preamble is generally not accorded any patentable weight where it merely recites the intended use of a structure, and where the body of the claim does not depend on the preamble for completeness but, the structural limitations are able to stand alone. (see MPEP 2111.02). In this case, the claimed structural limitations amount to first and second components configured to performed the claimed functions.
Allard teaches an apparatus (100) comprising: a first component (107) configured to allow ingress of water and debris from a first side (top) of the first component and configured to trap the debris and allow egress of only the water (due to filter 108) from a second side (bottom) of the first component; and
a second component (109) removably coupled to the second side of the first component (see [0032]) and configured to accept the water from the first component and configured to allow egress of the water via a downspout egress (note that 109 allows the water to egress via downspout 102 -see figs. 5 and 6), wherein the first component is configured to be removed from the second component (as seen in fig. 6 and disclosed in [0032]) to allow removal of the debris.
In regard to claim 14, Allard teaches the claimed invention wherein the first and second components are removably coupled to a rain gutter (see [0023] -the apparatus is connected to a gutter as seen in fig. 2).
In regard to claim 15, Allard teaches the claimed invention wherein the first side of the first component is configured to allow ingress of water and debris form the rain gutter (see fig. 2 -Note that the water and debris that enters the first side comes from the gutter).
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4-7, 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Allrad.
In regard to claim 1, Allrad teaches an apparatus comprising:
a rain gutter (12);
a downspout (13) coupled to the rain gutter (see fig. 2, all the components of the apparatus are coupled to each other and to the gutter and downspout); and
a rain gutter trap (100) removably coupled to the rain gutter (see [0026]), the rain gutter trap including a first component (107) configured to allow passage of water from the rain gutter to the downspout while blocking debris from the downspout during a first mode (see [0025]) and configured to be removed from the rain gutter and emptied during a second mode (“cleaning, replacement” or maintenance as recited in [0030]).
In regard to claim 2, Allard teaches a method of collecting debris from a rain gutter, comprising:
coupling a receptacle (107) to a rain gutter (note that 107, which is part of apparatus 100, is coupled to a rain gutter as shown in fig. 2, see also [0027]);
allowing water and debris collected by the rain gutter to flow into the receptacle (see [0025]);
allowing the water collected by the receptacle to flow into a downspout (13);
trapping the debris in the receptacle (see [0033]);
decoupling the receptacle from the rain gutter (see [0040] and fig. 6);
emptying the debris from the receptacle (“cleaning replacement or maintenance” as recited in [0030]); and
coupling the emptied receptacle to the rain gutter (see [0040] “components can be readily inserted and removed…”).
The examiner takes the position that the claimed method steps are obviously necessitated by the device of Allrad as the receptacle is coupled as claimed and the water and debris are allowed to be collected and flow as claimed.
In regard to claim 4, Allard teaches the claimed invention wherein the rain gutter trap further includes a second component (109) configured to allow passage of water from the rain gutter to the downspout while blocking debris from the downspout during the first mode (see [0025]) and configured to be removed from the rain gutter and emptied during the second mode (as seen in fig. 6 and disclosed in [0032]. Note that component 109 can be cleaned when removed -see MPEP 2114-).
In regard to claim 5, Allard teaches the claimed invention further comprising a center component (103) coupled to the downspout and the first and second components (see fig. 6), the center component configured to removably engage the first and second components (note that the first and second components are removable from the housing per [0032]).
In regard to claim 6, Allard teaches an insert (101) coupled to the rain gutter (see fig. 2), further teaches that the claimed invention can be permanently attached to the downspout via “other sealing devices adapted to mate with each downspout” (see [0027]).
Although Allrad does not explicitly disclose the insert comprises a first set of flanges permanently coupled to the rain gutter, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use flanges to permanently attach to the downspout (as disclosed in [0027]) because providing flanges in an element as means for attachment is notoriously well known in the art, and the use of conventional materials to perform their known function is prima facie obvious. Thus, one would choose to use flanges for attaching to the downspout in the same manner that flanges are used for attachment of the components within the device (see [0040]) so as to maintain uniformity in the design.
In regard to claim 7, it is noted that Allard teaches its invention is for filtering fluid that has passed across various surfaces such as gutters or downspouts (see [0025]), thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to couple an insert (101) with a first portion (top) disposed internally of the rain gutter and coupling the receptacle to a second portion (bottom) of the insert so that water and debris can be properly directed toward the receptable when the device is directly coupled to a gutter.
In regard to claim 9, Allrad teaches that allowing the after collected by the receptacle to flow into the downspout comprises allowing the water to flow through a screen (108) disposed within the receptacle (see fig. 6) and disallowing the debris from flowing through the screen (see [0033]).
In regard to claim 11, Allrad teaches that decoupling the receptacle from the rain gutter comprises sliding the receptacle away from the second portion of the insert (see [0040] -Note that Allrad discloses the components of the apparatus are “adapted to slidably” connect with each other, and sliding the receptacle out of the apparatus requires it to slide away from the second portion of the insert, thus meeting the claim (see also fig. 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12, 16 and 17 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:
With respect to claim 12, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest a rain gutter trap having first and second components are recited in claim 3, and further comprising a third component configured to allow water and debris from a first side and configure to trap debris and allow egress of only water from a second side and into the second component, as recited within the context of the claim.
It is noted that there is no component in Allrad, besides the first and second components, that is configured to take water and debris and allow egress of only water into the second component. There is no cogent reasoning that is unequivocally independent of hindsight that would have led one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the prior art to obtain the applicant's invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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/PAOLA AGUDELO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3633