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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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, 4, and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kawamura (2007/0229623) (hereinafter Kawamura).
Regarding Claim 1, Kawamura teaches a container housing device (70, Figs. 1, 4, and 5) [Paragraphs 0059, 0067, 0085-0086], comprising: a device main body (74, Fig. 5) [Paragraph 0086]; a plurality of container housing portions (see Fig. 5) that have openings adjacently juxtaposed in an up-down direction along a side surface of the device main body and each house an ink container (63, Fig. 5) filled with ink [Paragraphs 0086-0087]; and a plurality of cover members (76, Fig. 6) that are mounted to the device main body (74, Fig. 5) so as to be able to open and close the openings (see Fig. 5) [Paragraph 0086], wherein each of the plurality of cover members (see Fig. 5) includes an inclined part (77, Fig. 6) inclined, in a downward direction toward a lower end thereof, from an outer side toward an inner side of a corresponding one of the plurality of container housing portions (see Fig. 5) [Paragraph 0086].
Regarding Claim 4, Kawamura teaches the container housing device according to claim 1, wherein the inclined part (77) includes a recessed handle (see Fig. 6) formed in a concave shape recessed inwardly from an outer surface of the inclined part (77) [Paragraph 0086].
Regarding Claim 5, Kawamura teaches an inkjet recording apparatus (11, Fig. 4) comprising the container housing device (70)according to claim 1 [Paragraphs 0067 and 0085-0086].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 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 primary reason for the allowance of claims 2-3 is the inclusion of the limitation of a container housing device that includes connecting a joint at end of an ink tube extending from inside the device main body to a cap functioning as an ink outflow port of the ink container, wherein the joint is on an inner side of and adjacent to each of a plurality of cover members. It is these limitations found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination, that has not been found, taught, or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
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/LISA SOLOMON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853