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 .
Status of Application
Claims 1-10 are pending and have been examined in this application. This communication is the first action on the merits. As of the date of this communication, no Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) has been filed with this application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent Number 10,254,004 B2 to Nemoto.
A) As per Claim 1, Nemoto teaches an air vent apparatus for a vehicle (Nemoto: Figure 10), comprising:
a first wing (Nemoto: Figure 11, Item 13) extending horizontally;
a second wing (Nemoto: Figure 11, Item 16) extending vertically behind the first wing; and
a knob assembly (Nemoto: Figure 11, Item 18) including a knob body and is coupled to the first wing and to the second wing, wherein
the knob body is disposed in a coupling hole (Nemoto: Figure 11, Item 13e; Col. 14, lines 25-29) positioned at a front surface of the first wing, and
the knob body being movable relative to the coupling hole between a first state in which the knob body retracts into the first wing and a second state in which the knob body protrudes from the first wing (Best shown in Nemoto: Figures 12c & 13c, Item 18 moves in and out to control divergence of rear vertical wings).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-10 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLEN SCHULT whose telephone number is (571)272-8511. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, HELENA KOSANOVIC can be reached at 571-272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Allen R. B. Schult/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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