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
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 inv3ention 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) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuhara, U.S. Patent 11,819,091.
Regarding Claim 1, Fukuhara teaches:
a flat plate-shaped base portion formed to have a large length in a machine direction
(see fig. 10); and a plurality of engaging elements (50) provided on an upper surface of the base portion, wherein
each of the engaging elements includes a stem portion (40) standing upright from the base portion, an engaging head portion (42) provided at a top end portion of the engaging element and extending outward with respect to a boundary portion with the stem portion, and at least one engaging portion (42b) protruding from an outer circumference portion of the engaging head portion,
Fukuhara does not teach:
a total of areas of the engaging head portions per 1 cm2 of the surface fastener is
10,000,000 μm2 or more when the surface fastener is viewed in plan view from above, and
the synthetic resin has a tensile modulus of 700 MPa or more and 2300 MPa or less.
However, Fukuhara teaches a synthetic resin having a modulus in the range of 1000 MPa to 2300 MPa (see Abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to provide the prior art with the modulus range as claimed and the total area as claimed because Applicant has not provided any criticality stemming from the use of the claimed limitations and it has been held that “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. See MPEP 2144.05 [R-5].
Regarding Claim 2, Fukuhara is silent with regard to the formation density of 300 number/cm2 or more.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to provide the prior art with the claimed density because Applicant has not provided any criticality stemming from the use of the claimed limitations and it has been held that “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. See MPEP 2144.05 [R-5].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW J SULLIVAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5218. The examiner can normally be reached IFP, Typically M-Th, 8:00-6:00, regular Fr availability.
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, Jason San can be reached at 571-272-6531. 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.
/M.J.S/Examiner, Art Unit 3677
/JASON W SAN/SPE, Art Unit 3677