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 § 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 2-5 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 2 discloses having a fitting protrusion portion with an insertion protruding portion and at least one elastic protruding portion which are “provided at a predetermined interval” which is unclear since the requirement of an interval seems to imply that a plurality of these components are actually required and as such it is unclear how many portions are actually required or how they are arranged and as such the scope of the claim is unascertainable. For the purposes of examination, the claim will be interpreted as the fitting protruding portion including alternating insertion protruding portions and elastic protruding portions.
Claim 3 discloses that “the engaging hole portion is provided outside with respect to the at least one wall portion” which is unclear since the engaging hole portion is already disclosed as being part of the fitting hole portion of the base member and not part of the wall portion and further the preceding claims disclose that the wall includes an elastic protruding portion that is meant to be placed in the engaging hole portion and as such what is meant to be encompassed by “outside” is unascertainable.
Claim 4 discloses that the insertion protruding portion includes “a first insertion protruding portion and two second insertion protruding portions provided at both ends of the first insertion protruding portion” but then goes on to disclose that two elastic protruding portions are provided within gaps formed between the first insertion protruding portion and the two second insertion protruding portions and as such the positioning of the portions relative to each other is unclear since the parts appear to be both attached and spaced apart making what is intended to be encompassed by the claim unclear. For the purposes of examination, the claim will be interpreted as having a first insertion protruding portion positioned between two second insertion protruding portions.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the front" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Furthermore, the recitation that the two wall portions “opens toward the front” is unclear since it is unknown how plate shaped walls can be considered to open individually and instead seems to be disclosing a configuration of the toy house as a whole. For the purposes of examination, the claim will be interpreted as the at least one wall including two wall portions facing each other with a plate shaped connecting wall positioned between rear sides of the two walls to create an open front to the toy house.
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) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walters (2871619) and Weiss (5002513). Walters discloses a toy house (Fig. 1) having a plate shaped base member (39) with an attachment surface (44) including a fitting hole portion having a plurality of holes (Fig. 5) and a toy house body having at least one plate shaped wall portion (Fig. 6) that is attachable to the attachment surface and includes an installation portion (58) with a contact surface for contacting the attachment surface and a fitting protrusion portion having a plurality of protruding portions protruding from the contact surface (59) configured to fit with the fitting hole portion (Fig. 14). The installation portion includes a lever portion that protrudes outwardly away from an outer surface of the fitting protrusion portion and another portion that protrudes relative to an inner surface of the fitting protruding portion (Figs. 6, 15 & 17). Walters discloses the basic inventive concept with the exception of the inner portion having a width that is smaller than a width of the lever portion. Weiss discloses a construction component (84) having a wall member (84) with a fitting protruding portion (91) on an installation portion, wherein a lever portion of the installation portion can have a width greater than another portion (Fig. 14). It would have been obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art from the teaching of Weiss to position the fitting protrusion portion of Walters such that one with is smaller than another width for the predictable result of positioning the fitting protrusion portion to create desired stable constructions. Furthermore, a mere rearrangement of parts has been held to be an obvious modification. See In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walters and Weiss as applied above and further in view of Warren (2062735). Walters and Weiss disclose the basic inventive concept, with the exception of the at least one wall including two wall portions facing each other with a connecting wall positioned between rear sides of the two walls to create an open front to the toy house. Warren discloses a toy house formed from plate shaped walls attached to a base, wherein two opposing wall portions are connected by a connecting wall at a rear thereof to create an open front to the toy house (Fig. 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to arrange the walls of Walters and Weiss as taught by Warren for the predictable result of creating a desired construction with increased functionality and utility.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 could be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art failed to disclose the toy house of claim 1 and further wherein the fitting protruding portion has alternating insertion protruding portions and elastic protruding portions, wherein the elastic protruding portions are formed thinner than the insertion protruding portions and include an engaging recess portion, the fitting hole portion has respective insertion hole portions into which the insertion protruding portions are inserted and respective engaging hole portions into which the elastic protruding portions are inserted, the engaging hole portions have an engaging protrusion configured to engage the engaging recess portions and insertion ribs are provided between respective insertion hole portions and engaging hole portions and are configured to be inserted between respective insertion protruding portions and elastic protruding portions.
The closest prior art of Piersch (5222902) which discloses a toy house having a base and wall components wherein the base includes a fitting slot portion and the wall includes a fitting protruding portion wherein the fitting protruding portion includes a plurality of insertion protruding portions and elastic protruding portions that are thinner and include an engaging recess portion and the base includes a combined fitting portion with an insertion portion for the insertion protruding portion and an engaging portion for the elastic protruding portion that includes an engaging protrusion for the engaging recess but does not disclose the wall having alternating insertion and elastic protruding portions and the fitting hole portion having insertion holes and engaging holes with an insertion rib between respective insertion holes and engaging holes configured to be inserted between the insertion protruding portions and elastic protruding portions and an installation portion having a lever portion with a width greater than an inner portion as defined relative to inner and outer portions of the fitting protruding portion (Fig. 3) and it would not have been obvious to modify Piersch to include these features without considerable rework and the benefit of applicants disclosure.
Conclusion
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/A.M.H/Examiner, Art Unit 3711 /EUGENE L KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3711
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