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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
3. Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Babicz (US20110259171) in view of Foley (WO 9218973A1).
Regarding claim 1, Babicz (US20110259171) discloses the use of a saddle (10) for use with the bridge of an electric guitar comprising: a generally rectangular further comprising a peaked projection (the top in figure 21)) in which the generally rectangular peaked projection comprise a height, a width and a depth and further comprising; a front; a back; a bottom; two sides; a rounded guitar string contact face comprising a first part of the peaked projection (see figure 21); a back face comprising a second part of the peaked projection; a threaded intonation screw hole further comprising two hood (the sides) components associated with one hood component associated with each of the rounded guitar string contact face and the back face; and a guitar string groove (see figure 20).
Babicz does not disclose a protrusion.
Foley (WO 9218973A1) discloses the use of a protrusion (12) extending from the bottom of a saddle suitable to be retained in a guitar saddle groove (33) of a bridge for an electric guitar of a solid projection.
WO 9218973A1 and Foley do not disclose the use of a solid projection.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to modify the device as disclosed in Babicz to include the protrusion as disclosed in Foley and a solid projection since Babicz and Foley disclose that the use of solid elements are conventional and well known in the art.
Regarding claim 2, Babicz and Foley do not disclose a guitar string groove that has a width in which the width is determined based on the type of guitar string used on the electric guitar.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to modify the device as disclosed in Babicz to include a string with a specific width since the use of string width that’s accommodate different sized strings is conventional and well known in the art.
Regarding claims 3 and 4, Babicz and Foley do not disclose a guitar string groove that is sized for use with a specific string type.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to modify the device to include a specific string groove size as claimed by the applicant since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Claims 5-11 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIMBERLY R LOCKETT whose telephone number is (571)272-2067. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:00 pm M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dedei Hammond can be reached at 571-270-7938. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KIMBERLY R LOCKETT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
