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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species 2 in the reply filed on 11/7/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim 13 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 11/7/2025.
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) 1-3, 10, and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Neag et al. (US 5791533, hereinafter ‘Neag’).
Neag discloses a storage carrier capable of coupling to a camper jack, said storage carrier comprising: an upper arm (42) having a proximal end portion (54) capable of (i) rotatably coupling at an upper post of a camper jack, and (ii) sliding along a longitudinal axis of the camper jack (functional recitations); a lower arm (44) coupled to said upper arm, said lower arm having a proximal end portion (60) capable of rotatably coupling to an extendable lower post of the camper jack (functional recitation); and an article support (68) coupled to said upper and lower arms; wherein said lower arm is capable of raising and lowering with the extendable lower post of the camper jack; and wherein said upper and lower arms are raisable and lowerable together with the extendable lower post of the camper jack, and are pivotable between a stowed position and a deployed position (functional recitations).
Neag further discloses an upper slip collar (54) capable of coupling directly to the upper post of the camper jack, wherein said proximal end portion of said upper arm is couplable to the upper post of the camper jack via said upper slip collar, and wherein said upper slip collar is rotatable and longitudinally slidable relative to the upper post of the camper jack (functional recitations); a lower collar (60) capable of rotatably coupling to the extendable lower post of the camper jack, wherein said proximal end portion of said lower arm is couplable to the extendable lower post of the camper jack via said lower collar (functional recitations); said article support comprises at least one chosen from a spare tire rack, a bicycle rack, and a kayak rack (see Figs. 1, 2; spare tire rack); an article supported at said article support is lowerable into contact with a horizontal step of a vehicle or a truck camper to which the camper jack is attached (functional recitation); an article supported at said article support is lowerable into contact with a ground surface when said upper and lower arms are in the deployed position (functional recitation); and a catch for releasably securing said upper and lower arms in the stowed position (66-76).
Neag further discloses a storage carrier capable of coupling to a telescoping shaft having a fixed portion and an extendable portion, said storage carrier comprising: an upper arm (42) capable of both circumferential rotation and longitudinal translation relative to the fixed portion of the telescoping shaft (functional recitation); a lower arm (44) coupled to said upper arm, said lower arm capable of coupling to the extendable portion of the telescoping shaft, wherein said lower arm is configured to raise and lower with the extendable portion of the telescoping shaft (functional recitation); and wherein said upper and lower arms are raisable and lowerable together with the extendable portion of the telescoping shaft, and are pivotable relative to the fixed portion of the telescoping shaft between a stowed position and a deployed position (functional recitation); and said upper arm is capable of coupling directly to the fixed portion of the telescoping shaft via an upper sliding collar (54), and said lower arm is capable of coupling directly to the extendable portion of the telescoping shaft via a lower collar (60).
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(s) 4-6 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Neag et al. (US 5791533, hereinafter ‘Neag’) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Burger et al. (US 5538168, hereinafter ‘Burger’).
Neag discloses all limitations of the claim(s) as detailed above except does not expressly disclose the support rod as claimed.
However, Burger teaches a similar device wherein the carrier is mounted to a support rod (32) capable of coupling to the upper post of a camper jack, wherein said proximal end portion of said upper arm is rotatably coupled directly to said support rod (see Figs. 1, 2).
Because Neag and Burger both teach attachment mechanisms for vehicle spar tire carriers, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute the support rod attached mounting taught by Burger for the hinge mounted attachment taught by Neag to achieve the predictable result of securely attaching the spare tire carrier to the vehicle in a rotatable manner.
Neag as modified above further discloses said support rod is capable of being laterally spaced from the upper post of the camper jack and has a longitudinal axis that is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the camper jack (functional recitation); a lower bracket (Neag 60) capable of coupling directly to the extendable lower post of the camper jack, wherein said lower bracket defines a pivot axis aligned with said longitudinal axis of said support rod (functional recitation); and an upper coupling bracket (43) capable of attaching an upper end of said support rod to an upper end of the upper post of the camper jack; and a lower coupling bracket (44) capable of attaching a lower end of said support rod to a lower end of the upper post of the camper jack; wherein said upper and lower coupling brackets are capable of support the respective upper and lower ends of said support rod equidistant from the upper post of the camper jack (functional recitation).
Claim(s) 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Neag et al. (US 5791533, hereinafter ‘Neag’) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Rasmussen (US 5553825).
Neag discloses all limitations of the claim(s) as detailed above except does not expressly disclose the camper jack as claimed.
However, Rasmussen is one of myriad references teaching a camper jack with an electric motor that is operable to downwardly extend and upwardly retract said lower post of said camper jack (col. 9, ll. 35-47).
All of the component parts are known in Rasmussen and Neag. The only difference is the combination of all the known elements into a single device by having a camper jack as taught by Rasmussen on the same vehicle as rack assembly as assembly taught by Neag.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have a camper jack as taught by Rasmussen on the same vehicle as rack assembly as assembly taught by Neag, since the camper jack in no way affects the other functions of the rack assembly and the camper can be used in combination with a rack assembly to achieve the predictable results of supporting a camper.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 8, 11, and 12 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER N. HELVEY whose telephone number is (571)270-1423. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10am-7pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathan Newhouse can be reached at 571-272-4544. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PETER N HELVEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3734
March 16, 2026