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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-5, and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (CN206641518) herein after Shao in view of Zhong (CN211984246) herein after Zhong.
Regarding claim 1, Shao teaches a cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder, comprising a penholder (1), wherein a pen refill (7) penetrates the penholder (page 4, lines 13-15), a protrusion portion (72) is formed on the pen refill in a convex manner (Figure 1 shows that the parts 72 protruding from 7 in convex manner), an elastic member (2) is arranged on an outer side of the pen refill in a sleeving manner, and when the pen refill is mounted in the penholder (page 3, lines 5-10), one end of the pen refill is provided with an applicator (8), and a pressing portion (pressing part on top of tail cap 6) is formed at the other end of the pen refill (figure 2 shows the top pressing part of cap 6);
one end of the penholder (1) is connected to a middle section (3, Figure 2), a bearing seat (4) is arranged in the middle section (part 4 is connected with the middle seat 3 and extends inside the middle seat), an inner plug (41) is arranged in the bearing seat (page 3, lines 5-10), and a containing cavity (the cavity/space in 41, Figure 1) for containing cosmetic cream is formed in the inner plug (page 3, line 10); and when the pen refill (7) is mounted in the penholder (1), the applicator (8) portion faces the containing cavity (Figures 1 and 2, Page 3, lines 5-7 and 10-12), and when the pressing portion (6) is pressed, the applicator (8) portion makes contact with the cosmetic cream in the containing cavity (page 3, last paragraph).
However, Shao does not teach a step portion is formed on an inner side of the penholder nor does not specify if the applicator is a hairbrush.
Zhong teaches a cosmetic pen with a step portion is formed on an inner side of the penholder where the elastic member is located between the protrusion portion and the step portion (the step portion and the elastic member placement is shown in the annotated figure 1 below); Zhong further teaches a hairbrush/brush as the applicator (abstract lines 6-7) of the cosmetic pen.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one in the ordinary skill in the art before the filling date of the application to modify the penholder (1) of Shao to include a step portion as taught by Zhong, in order to better retain the elastic member in position and provide improved fitting/stability when the pen refill is in the retracted position. Furthermore, it would be obvious to replace the applicator of Shao with a hairbrush/brush as taught by Zhong, because brushes are a well-known type of applicator used in the cosmetics to apply cosmetic products.
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Regarding claim 2, Shao teaches the cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder according to claim 1, wherein the other end of the penholder is provided with a tail plug (5), and a locking protrusion portion (51, figure 4) is formed in the tail plug ; a slide way (61) and a locking track (62) are formed in the pen refill , the locking track is in communication with the slide way, and a locking lug (as seen in figure 3 below, the protruding part from 62 ) is formed in the locking track in a convex manner; and the locking protrusion portion (51) is capable of being placed into the slide way (61) and the locking track (62) and moves along the slide way and the locking track (Figures 3, and 4, Page 3, lines 13-14 and 33-37).
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Regarding claim 3, Shao teaches the cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder according to claim 2, wherein the slide way (61) is parallel to an axial direction of the pen refill (7), and the locking track (62) is in a circumferential direction of the pen refill (the slide way 61 is vertically located and is in parallel direction to pen refill 7 where the parts 6 and 7 are connected as in Page 3, lines 7-9, while locking track 62 is located circumferentially, Figures 1 and 3).
Regarding claim 4, Shao teaches the cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder according to claim 2, wherein the pen refill (7) comprises a fixing seat (71) and a tail cap (6), and the fixing seat and the tail cap are connected into a whole to form the pen refill (Page 3, lines 7-9, the pressing part/tail cap 6 is connected with the part 7 thereby completely forming the pen refill process); and the applicator/brush portion (8) is arranged on the fixing seat (parts 9 and 8 are fixed onto the part 7, Page 3, lines 24-27), and the pressing portion is formed on the tail cap (top part of tail cap 6 is a pressing portion, Figure 2).
Regarding claim 5, Shao teaches the cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder according to claim 4, wherein the slide way (61) is also formed on the tail cap, and a lower end of the slide way is in communication with a lower end edge of the tail cap (slide way is situated in lower edge of the tail cap 6); and an upper end of the slide way is not in communication with an upper end edge of the tail cap (62 is situated circumferentially so does not communicate with the upper end of 6, as in Figure 3), such that when the locking protrusion portion (51) moves to the upper end of the slide way, the locking protrusion portion fails to continue moving upwards (page 3, lines 33-37).
Regarding claim 8, Shao teaches the cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder according to claim 2, wherein both sides of the pressing portion are formed into planes (the top portion of 6 as shown in figure 2 can be rotated either direction, Page 3, lines 33-34 describes as the rotating tail cap).
Claim(s) 6 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (CN206641518) herein after Shao in view of Zhong (CN211984246) herein after Zhong as in claim 1, and further in view of Holloway (WO9501743) herein after Holloway.
Regarding claim 6, Shao teaches the cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder according to claim 2, however does not teach wherein a plurality of limiting protrusion portions having uniform gaps are formed on the penholder, a plurality of limiting convex edges are formed on an outer side of the tail plug, and a size of the limiting convex edge matches a length of the gap between the limiting protrusion portions.
Holloway teaches a cosmetic holder which contains plurality of limiting protrusion portions (120) having uniform gaps are formed on the base element corresponding to the penholder (100), a plurality of limiting convex edges (221) are formed on an outer side of the body corresponding to the tail body (220, as shown in Figure 1), where the limiting convex edges connect/mates with the gap between the limiting protrusion portions which corresponding to “where the size of the limiting convex edge matches a length of the gap between the limiting protrusion portions” (page 8, lines 29-32).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one in the ordinary skill in the art before the filling date of the application to modify penholder (100) and tail body (220) of Shao to contain limiting protrusion portions (120) and limiting convex edges (221) as taught by Holloway, in order to provide stable and reliable rotational locking and limiting mechanism to allow smooth push to extend and twist to lock operation.
Regarding claim 7, Shao teaches the cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder according to claim 6, wherein the pen refill (7) comprises a fixing seat (71) and a tail cap (6), and the fixing seat and the tail cap are clamped into a whole (the part 7 with 71 is inserted to 1 and then connected with part 6, Page 3, lines 7-9 and 24-27).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (CN206641518) herein after Shao in view of Zhong (CN211984246) herein after Zhong as in claim 1, and further in view of Mercado (US20160100669) herein after Mercado.
Regarding claim 9, Shao teaches the cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder according to claim 1,
However, does not teach an inclined brush, a certain included angle is formed between an inclined surface of the hairbrush portion and the axis of the pen refill, and the included angle is 30-60.
Mercado teaches an inclined brush (figure 3), a certain included angle is formed between an inclined surface of the hairbrush/brush portion and the axis of the handle (2), and the included angle is 30-60 (page 2, para. [0035], lines 7-10, teaches an angle around 40-60 degrees at the angled tip).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one in the ordinary skill in the art before the filling date of the application to modify the applicator (8) of Shao with an inclined brush portion having an angle around 30-60 degrees at the tip as taught by Mercado, in order to provide improved surface contact variation, and more effective application of product on face.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (CN206641518) herein after Shao in view of Zhong (CN211984246) herein after Zhong as in claim 1, and further in view of Li et al (CN102132993) herein after Li
Regarding claim 10, Shao teaches the cosmetic pen with a retractable cream-dipping penholder according to claim 1, wherein a moisture retaining cavity (42) is further formed between the inner plug (41) and the middle section (3), and a vent hole (the bottom opening of the part 42) is further formed in the inner plug, and the vent hole is in communication with the containing cavity (bottom space of 41) and the moisture retaining cavity (42, Figure 1, Page 3, lines 15-17).
However, does not teach a sponge block is arranged in the moisture retaining cavity;
Li teaches a sponge block arranged for moisture retaining (Page 2, Para. [0002], line 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one in the ordinary skill in the art before the filling date of the application to modify the moistures retaining cavity (42) of Shao to include a moisture retaining sponge as taught by Li, in order to provide improved moisture retention and humidity control within the cavity.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARA N. SAMARASEKARA whose telephone number is (571)272-9653. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00 am - 4:00 pm.
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/SARA N SAMARASEKARA/Examiner, Art Unit 3772
/EDELMIRA BOSQUES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3772
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