DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-2 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a(1) as being anticipated by Kedzierski, US 4644613. Kedzierski discloses a metal slider body (10) that is die cast (claim 10, column 2, line 11) with an upper and lower blade (11, 12) connected to one another via a column (15, figure 3). A stringer passage is formed on both sides of the column by the upper and lower blades. A component (28) is accommodated in the metal slider body. A recess (18-20) is formed on a surface of the body and at least in the upper blade (claim 2, please see the annotated drawing). A dedicated vent hole (19) formed between the top inner surface and sides of the hole (19) and the end portion of the component (32) in the slider body is oriented in a front-rear direction orthogonal to an upper-lower direction defined by the gap extending between the upper and lower blades (please see the annotated drawing).
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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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kedzierski, US 4644613.
The claim requires plating the slider body and the vent hole. The examiner takes official notice of the fact that plating a metal article, subjected to a harsh environment, with a corrosive resistant plating is old and well-known in order to prevent corrosion of the metal and extend the life of the article. Therefore, it would have been obvious, prior to the earliest effective filing date, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to plate Ishii's slider with a corrosive resistant film material.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8 and 11-14 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-2 and 10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACK W LAVINDER whose telephone number is (571)272-7119. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Friday 9-4pm (EST).
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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.
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JACK W. LAVINDER
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3677
/JACK W LAVINDER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3677
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