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 Species 2 from Species Group 1, Species 2 from Species Group 2, and Species 1 from Species Group 3 in the reply filed on 6/18/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 4 and 13 are withdrawn from further consideration as being drawn to a nonelected species.
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 1-3, 5-12 and 14-20 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.
The applicant claims a flexible hydrophobic material, a flexible hydrophilic material and a flexible fluid absorbent material. All materials are flexible/rigid to a degree. It is unclear what specific level of flexibility is being claimed.
Claim 2, the claim references the trademark Velcro as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product. When a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of the 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph. Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982).
Claims 14 and 20, the phrase “wallet-like slots” renders the claims indefinite because it is unclear what specific structure is necessary for a slot to be considered like a wallet.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-3, 5-12 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPAP 2013/0042879 to Orr in view of USPAP 2013/0263791 to Crisanaz, USPN 5,697,102 to Benjamin, USPAP 2014/0338210 to Young, USPAP 2018/0064583 to Van De Maele, USPN 5,025,504 to Benston, USPAP 2014/0066870 to Gil, USPAP 2015/0112165 to Heikenfeld, and/or USPN 5,082,707 to Fazio.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 12, 19 and 20, Orr discloses a flexible fluid/sweat wicking and absorbing device comprising multiple flexible hydrophilic and absorbent material layers for wiping the face/body to remove sweat (see entire document including [0002], [0017], [0020], [0063] and [0069]-[0078]).
Orr does not appear to specifically mention a hydrophobic backing layer but Crisanaz discloses that it is known in the art to construct an absorbent towel with a liquid impervious (hydrophobic) backing layer to limit the leaching of liquids out of the towel (see entire document including [0047]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to construct the towel of Orr with a liquid impervious (hydrophobic) backing layer to limit the leaching of liquids out of the towel.
Orr discloses that the towel may include a palm/finger insertion unit made from the same material as the towel and attached by a fastener such as Velcro [0069]. In addition, Crisanaz discloses that it is known in the art to include a removable pocket attached by a fastener such as Velcro [0053], Benjamin discloses that it is known in the art to include a removable pocket (see entire document including column 3, lines 54-65 and claim 3), and Young discloses that it is known in the art to include a palm/finger insertion unit on the backside of an absorbent towel wherein the palm or finger insertion unit comprises four edges, a first pair of opposing edges is attached to the backing layer, and a second pair of opposing edges is not attached and forms an opening configured to receive a user palm or one or more fingers (see entire document including Figure 7, [0037] and [0038]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include a removable pocket and/or a removable palm/finger insertion unit on the backside of the absorbent towel, as claimed, to allow for (when desired) the insertion of a palm/finger/hand/item(s).
Claim 3, Young discloses that the first layer and the second layer are rectangular, and the first layer dimensions are equivalent to second layer dimensions (Figure 7 and [0038]).
Claim 5, Van De Maele and Benston each disclose that it is known in the art to construct a three layer absorbent product structure such that the first layer and the second layer are attached with each other such that the third layer is sealed between the first layer and the second layer to assure absorbed liquids stay contained within the towel (see entire documents including Figure 1A, [0001], [0070] and [0251]-[0252] of Van De Maele and column 2, line 6 through column 5, line 5 of Benston). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to construct the absorbent towel such that the first layer and the second layer are attached with each other such that the third layer is sealed between the first layer and the second layer to assure absorbed liquids stay contained within the towel.
Claim 7, Young discloses that the palm or finger insertion unit is rectangular, wherein the first pair of opposing edges are parallel to each other and the second pair of opposition edges are parallel to each other, and wherein the first pair of opposing edges are perpendicular to the second pair of opposing edges (Figure 7 and [0038]).
Claims 8 and 19, Orr does not appear to mention a wetness indicator but Gil discloses that it is known in the art to include a wetness indicator disposed on the backsheet, wherein the wetness indicator is configured to indicate a level of fluid absorbed by an absorbent layer (see entire document including [0051]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include the claimed wetness indicator to indicate a level of fluid absorbed by the absorbent layer.
Claim 9, the fluid wicking and absorbing device of Orr is a sweat wicking and absorbing device ([0017], [0050], [0075] and [0078]).
Claim 10, Orr does not appear to mention the towel further comprising a sweat biomarker monitoring sensor but Heikenfeld discloses that it is known to attach such a sensor to detect a human health condition based on sweat absorbed (see entire document including [0003] and [0055]-[0058]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include the claimed sweat biomarker monitoring sensor to detect a human health condition based on sweat absorbed.
Claim 11, the sweat biomarker monitoring sensor of Heikenfeld is configured to transmit information associated with the human health condition to a user device [0057].
Claims 14 and 20, Young discloses that the one or more pockets or wallet-like slots may disposed on the palm or finger insertion unit (Figure 7 and [0037]).
Claim 15, the flexible hydrophobic (liquid impermeable) material of Crisanaz is polyurethane [0047].
Claim 16, Orr does not appear to mention the towel comprising one or more attachment units disposed at one or more corners of the fluid wicking device, wherein the one or more attachment units are configured to enable attachment with one or more additional fluid wicking devices, but Fazio discloses that it is known in the art to include attachment units at one or more corners of a towel for securing the towel in place (see entire documents including Figures 4- and column 4, lines 22-66). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include attachment units at one or more corners of a towel, as claimed, for securing the towel in place.
Claim 17, Orr discloses that the layers may be coated with an anti-microbial coating [0086].
Claim 18, Young teaches that the palm or finger insertion unit comprises one or more finger slots into which user fingers are configured to be inserted to hold and grip the fluid wicking and absorbing device (Figure 7 and [0038]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW T PIZIALI whose telephone number is (571)272-1541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm.
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, Marla McConnell can be reached at 571-270-7692. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW T PIZIALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789
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