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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination (RCE) under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on April 29, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendments filed with the written response received on April 6, 2026 (referenced by the RCE filed on April 29, 2026 as its accompanying response) have been considered and an action on the merits follows. As directed by the amendment: claims 1, 2, 4, 5 and 13 have been amended; claims 3, 4 and 11 are withdrawn from further consideration. Accordingly, claims 1-14 are pending in this application, with an action on the merits to follow regarding claims 1, 2, 5-10 and 12-14.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5-8, 10 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by NPL to Goal INN (hereinafter “NPL-Goal”) (URL = https://www.tradeinn.com/goalinn/en/rinat-kraken-nrg-pro-goalkeeper-gloves/136562599/p?srsltid=AfmBOoqVOuUG63mTuvOvBRcD_GQ2EDgMzIcwr-WkWsEvnk8BEn7NylaN).
Regarding independent claim 1, NPL-Goal discloses a glove (see annotated Fig. below of NPL-Goal’s glove, titled as “Kraken NRG Pro”), in particular a goalkeeper glove (“Rinat Kraken NRG Pro Goalkeeper Gloves”; Page 1 of NPL document provided herewith; Examiner notes that the phrase “in particular a goalkeeper glove” is a statement of intended use that does not further structurally define the claimed invention in any patentably-distinguishing sense), the glove comprising: a palm portion (see annotated Fig. below, which shows an arbitrary palm portion; Examiner notes that the term "portion" is very broad and merely means "a section or quantity within a larger thing; a part of a whole" (Defn. No. 1 of "American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition" entry via TheFreeDictionary.com); the boundaries (i.e. dashed-line outline) of the “palm portion” identified in the annotation are merely exemplary only, and could be drawn to be located elsewhere, absent further distinguishing language in the claim) and at least one rolled finger portion (see annotated Fig. below; NPL-Goal discloses that the fingers are “Ergo-Roll” cut (Page 3 of NPL document), indicating the fingers are “rolled”, inasmuch as the claim structurally defines the “rolled” aspect of the finger portions; Examiner notes that, given the breadth of the term “portion”, the identified at least one rolled finger portion could have its boundaries drawn in different locations and still meet the claim limitations, absent further distinguishing structural limitations regarding such boundaries in the claim) on at least one of an index finger, a middle finger, a ring finger, and a little finger of the glove (identified in annotated Fig. below is the index finger, which has an arbitrary rolled finger portion), wherein a lower end of the at least one rolled finger portion is connected directly only to a single one-piece member of a motion portion (see annotated Fig. below; only the identified single one-piece member of the motion portion is connected directly to the lower end of the index finger rolled finger portion; the identified member of the motion portion is, itself, a single one-piece member; Examiner notes that previously, the gussets were relied upon as “subcomponents” of the single member; however, in this updated/new grounds of rejection, given the breadth of the use of the term “portion”, the single one-piece member identified does not include the gussets, and the lower end of the arbitrary rolled finger portions is only directly connected to the identified single one-piece member of the arbitrary “motion portion”; Examiner notes that the claim does not structurally define what is meant by “single one-piece member of a motion portion”, and therefore the above interpretation is deemed reasonable, absent further distinguishing language in the claim) being disposed between the palm portion and the at least one rolled finger portion (the identified single one-piece member is disposed between the identified palm portion and the identified at least one rolled finger portion).
PNG
media_image1.png
1339
1260
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 2, NPL-Goal discloses that the at least one rolled finger portion comprises first and second rolled finger portions on two adjacent fingers of the index finger, the middle finger, the ring finger, and the little finger, the lower end of each of the first and second rolled finger portions connected directly to the single one-piece member of the motion portion (as shown in the annotated Fig. above, there are four rolled finger portions (which includes first and second rolled finger portions) in the glove (i.e. the first and second rolled finger portions being associated with the index and middle fingers, for example), which includes two adjacent fingers (i.e. the index and middle fingers are directly adjacent to one another) that are both directly connected to the identified single member of the motion portion at their respective lower ends (as identified with “LE” in the annotated Figure); as noted above, the term "portion" is very broad and merely means "a section or quantity within a larger thing; a part of a whole" (Defn. No. 1 of "American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition" entry via TheFreeDictionary.com)).
Regarding claim 5, NPL-Goal discloses that the at least one rolled finger portion comprises four rolled finger portions comprising a first rolled finger portion on the index finger, a second rolled finger portion on the middle finger, a third rolled finger portion on the ring finger, and a fourth rolled finger portion on the little finger, the lower end of each of the four rolled finger portions connected directly to the single one-piece member of the motion portion (as shown in the annotated Fig. above, there are four rolled finger portions in the glove, each having a respective lower end, as identified with “LE” in the annotated Figure, which includes the index, middle, ring and little fingers that are all directly connected at their respective lower ends to the identified single one-piece member of the motion portion).
Regarding claims 6 and 14, NPL-Goal discloses that the palm portion has at least one protrusion extending into at least one of the index finger, the middle finger, the ring finger, and the little finger of the glove (claim 6) (see annotated Fig. above; the identified palm portion has a respective protrusion that extends into at least one of the non-thumb finger portions of the glove), wherein the at least one protrusion extends into an inside of the at least one of the index finger, the middle finger, the ring finger, and the little finger (claim 14) (see annotated Fig. above; the identified protrusions of the palm portion extend into the fingers on the palm side (i.e. an inside of the fingers, as best as “an inside” can be understood)).
Regarding claim 7, NPL-Goal discloses that a further motion portion is disposed between the palm portion and a thumb of the glove (see annotated Fig. above, which identifies a further arbitrary motion portion that exists between the thumb and the palm portion of the glove, inasmuch as the further motion portion has been defined in the claim).
Regarding claim 8, NPL-Goal discloses that the motion portion is made of a textile (“the piece that connects the [fi]ngers and the palm is textile mesh (Page 3 of the NPL-Goal document); Examiner notes that “textile” is very broad, and can include fabrics, yarns, fibers).
Regarding claim 10, NPL-Goal discloses that the palm portion and the at least one rolled finger portion are made of latex (Page 3 of the NPL-Goal document discloses that German latex is used for excellent grip (i.e. indicating the palm side of the fingers, where gripping occurs, has the latex; this part of the finger has the identified rolled finger portion); “palm is divided and armed with separate pieces of latex”).
Regarding claim 12, NPL-Goal discloses that the palm portion and the at least one rolled finger portion are made of different materials (while both include latex, as addressed in the rejection of claim 10 above, there are different materials present among the identified palm portion and the identified rolled finger portion, such as the presence of the “1” logo in the palm portion, which is not included in the rolled finger portion, as one example; Page 3 discloses that the palm’s inside includes a nonskid gel applied thereto, which is not disclosed as being on the part associated with the identified rolled finger portion).
Regarding claim 13, NPL-Goal discloses that the at least one rolled finger portion is connected directly only to the single one-piece member of the motion portion (as addressed in the rejection of claim 1 above, regarding the lower end of the at least one rolled finger portion, specifically) and a backside portion of the glove (the annotated Fig. above shows how the rolled finger portion also extends to be connected to an arbitrary backside portion of the glove).
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NPL-Goal as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 9, NPL-Goal teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as set forth above. NPL-Goal does not disclose any dimensions of the components of the glove, and it cannot be determined whether the identified textile mesh (i.e. motion portion) has a motion portion thickness that is less than a palm portion thickness of the palm portion and less than a rolled finger portion thickness of the at least one rolled finger portion. However, since the textile mesh is described as providing a function of “allowing for air flow” (Page 3 of NPL document), and since the latex-containing areas (i.e. rolled finger portion and palm portion) are described as the latex overlying a neoprene material (Page 3 of NPL document), it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art for the textile mesh to have a lower thickness than the palm and rolled finger portions, in order to both allow for the desired air flow and increase the flexibility at the finger-to-hand joint area (i.e. a thinner, single layer of textile mesh would be more breathable than a thicker multilayer laminate of latex and neoprene and would also provide increased flexibility for the fingers to bend more easily during use).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed April 6, 2026 (and formally entered via RCE filed April 29, 2026) have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In light of Applicant’s arguments against the previously-applied Drawing objections, the Drawing objections have been withdrawn.
Regarding the 35 U.S.C. 102 rejections in view of NPL-Goal, Applicant argues that the presence of the gussets in NPL-Goal’s glove, in conjunction with the amended language that “a lower end of the at least one rolled finger portion is connected directly only to a single one-piece member of a motion portion” (emphasis added) renders the NPL-Goal reference overcome, since the gusset’s presence would render the equivalent motion portion to not be “one-piece” and since a lower end of the rolled finger portions would also be directly connected to the gussets, not just the “Active Cell” portion (Examiner notes that “Active Cell” is a term used by Applicant, and that the phrase “Active Cell” is not included anywhere in the document cited as the NPL-Goal reference; it appears Applicant is citing terminology used in the PDF NPL document provided by Applicant in the IDS filed on April 29, 2026 published by “Rinat” on page 18, which is a product description page for the “KRAKEN NRG PRO” glove; Examiner acknowledges that Applicant’s Specification includes a paragraph in the Background section that describes the “Kraken NRG PRO” glove by Rinat in Applicant’s own observations, and that the NPL reference cited herein does not necessarily articulate all of Applicant’s descriptions therein). Upon further consideration, in light of the amended language, the grounds of rejection have been updated to define the “rolled finger portion” of the NPL-Goal glove in a different manner than in the previous Office Action. Applicant continues use of the broad term “portion” in the claim, without yet defining the portions with sufficient specificity to overcome the NPL-Goal glove. In the updated annotated Fig. of NPL-Goal (see the 35 U.S.C. 102 section above), the lower end of the at least one rolled finger portion has been redrawn in a manner such that the arbitrary at least one rolled finger “portion” does not extend all the way to reach the gussets, but has lower ends that trapezoidally extend inward, spaced away from the gussets, so that the lower end edge is directly only connected to the single one-piece member (i.e. the “front side fabric” as described by Applicant in their own annotated Fig. on 7 of their Remarks) as identified in Examiner’s updated annotated Figure. Therefore, Applicant’s arguments are not commensurate with the new grounds of rejection of the claims in view of NPL-Goal, as explained above, absent further distinguishing language in the claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMESON COLLIER whose telephone number is (571)270-5221. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 am - 5 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CLINTON OSTRUP can be reached at (571)272-5559. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JAMESON D COLLIER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3732
Prosecution Insights