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 Group I, in the reply filed on May 14, 2026, is acknowledged.
Claims 12-20 have been cancelled and claims 21-29 have been added. As such, claims 1-11, 21-29 are pending in the instant application.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-11, 21-29 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, last line, should recite “a solid housing screw coupled to the housing aperture.”
Claim 29 is missing a period at the end.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-11, 21-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitations “a housing including a housing aperture; and a solid housing screw coupled to housing aperture” at its end. It is unclear from the language and clause structure whether the housing and solid housing screw are components of the rotation arm or the placement guide. As best understood, they are part of the rotation arm (Applicant’s Publication, ¶53); therefore, the last lines should be amended to recite “the rotation arm further comprising a housing including a housing aperture; and a solid housing screw coupled to the housing aperture” or similar. The claim may need to be reworked.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-11, 21-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, as stated above, but would be allowable if rewritten to correct the indefiniteness.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Lundquist et al. (US 2024/0058041) discloses a surgical apparatus comprising: an implant (300, FIG. 14) comprising: an attachment body (302) configured to couple the implant to a metatarsal capital fragment, the attachment body comprising one or more first apertures (304); and an extension (301) extending from the attachment body and configured for insertion into a metatarsal proximal portion intramedullary canal, the extension comprising one or more second apertures (303); a placement guide (322, FIGS. 23-24) comprising: an upper deck (324) including at least one aperture configured to accept a drill guide; a lower deck (325) including at least one aperture configured to align to the upper deck aperture; a handle (at 322) coupled to the guide; however, the prior art, alone or in combination, fails to teach the guide bottom surface configured to conform to a top surface of the attachment body; a rotation arm removably coupled to the handle, wherein: the rotation arm includes an arc including one or more notches configured to hold a wire, and the rotation arm is configured to facilitate rotation of a metatarsal capital fragment and hold the metatarsal capital fragment in a rotated target position, via the wire inserted into the one or more notches; a housing including a housing aperture; and a solid housing screw coupled to housing aperture.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLIVIA C CHANG whose telephone number is (571) 270-5017. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7:30AM-5:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner’s supervisor, KEVIN TRUONG, at (571) 272-4705. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571 -273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, seehttp://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/OLIVIA C CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3775
Prosecution Insights