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 .
Obviously Informal Case
An examination of this application reveals that applicant is unfamiliar with patent prosecution procedure. This case is considered to be Obviously Informal (see MPEP 702.01). The examiner has attempted to point out the points of informalities in the application and claims but the burden is on the applicant to revise the application to render it in proper form for a complete examination.
Pro se Disclaimer
While an applicant may prosecute the application and file papers in their application, lack of skill in this field usually acts as a liability in affording the maximum protection for the invention disclosed. Applicants are advised to secure the services of a registered patent attorney or agent to draft and prosecute a patent application, since the value of a patent is largely dependent upon skilled preparation and prosecution. USPTO employees (including Pro Se Assistance and the examiner of record) cannot give legal advice. To assist applicants in making informed decisions, Pro Se Assistance (https://www.uspto.gov/patents/patents-ombuds/pro-se-assistance-center) can provide assistance in helping applicants navigate http://www.uspto.gov/ and the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) to locate publicly available educational resources.
Responding to an Office Action
Examiner wished to direct applicant’s attention to the following information on how to respond to an office act by visiting https://www.uspto.gov/patents/maintain/responding-office-actions. About halfway down the page, you will find a section titled “How to respond to Official Letters”, this is where you will find how to send your response to the office. At template for such a response can be found at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/web/offices/pac/dapp/opla/preognotice/formatrevamdtprac.pdf.
Amendments
Examiner wishes to direct applicant's attention to publicly available claim drafting assistance available at https://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/inventor-info-chat#step3 (see the February 15, 2018, program titled “Claim Drafting”).
Further, Examiner wishes to direct application’s attention to MPEP 714 and 37 CFR 1.121 which can be found at https://mpep.uspto.gov/RDMS/MPEP/current#/result/d0e85040.html?q=1.121&ccb=on&ncb=off&icb=off&fcb=off&ver=current&syn=adj&results=compact&sort=relevance&cnt=25&index=7 and provides information on how to properly make amendments.
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to Claims, filed February 6, 2025, which are pending in this application.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the inventive structure cannot be seen in Figs. 2 and 4.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The amendment filed February 6, 2025 is objected to under 35 U.S.C. 132(a) because it introduces new matter into the disclosure. 35 U.S.C. 132(a) states that no amendment shall introduce new matter into the disclosure of the invention. The added material which is not supported by the original disclosure filed November 19, 2024 is as follows:
“Making the Hat Brim made by injection mold using materials of plastic, cardboard and various metals. The mold is all one piece 7 inches in width, five inches in length outside and 3 inches in length inside with a vertical drop that sizes from %4 inch to 2 inches. Product Brim will be used for baseball caps, visors, hardhats, and helmets. The Brim will be used for all types of hats” (on p. 6).
“Brim will be manufactured by the inventors which some brims have been made by mold by the inventors” (on p.6).
Applicant is required to cancel the new matter in the reply to this Office Action.
Claim Objections
The claim is objected to because of the following informalities: The claim is not numbered and Applicant should amend to recite, “Claim 1: (Currently Amended) Blocking Sun….” Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected as failing to define the invention in the manner required by 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
The claim(s) are narrative in form and replete with indefinite language. The structure which goes to make up the device must be clearly and positively specified. The structure must be organized and correlated in such a manner as to present a complete operative device. The claim(s) must be in one sentence form only. Note the format of the claims in the patent(s) cited.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)as being anticipated by Hutton (US 3346876).
Regarding claim 1, Hutton discloses Blocking Sun and Light without blocking Vision (See Figs. 1-3 where brim 14 includes band 24 that extends around and perpendicular from the front edge and side edges, 16-20, of the brim similar to the Applicant’s disclosed invention).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. For example, Lenterman (US 2021/0059341) shows a brim with a panel 30 extending orthogonally from the edge of the brim.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HEATHER MANGINE, Ph.D. whose telephone number is (571)270-0673. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM.
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, Clinton Ostrup can be reached at 571-272-5559. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HEATHER MANGINE, Ph.D./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3732