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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1 introduces “a bell-shaped claw” at line 2, and all furthers references in claim 1 are to “the claw”. However, claims 3 and 12 which depend from claim 1 both refer to “the bell-shaped claw”, and claims 2 – 6 and 8 – 13 which depend from claim 1 refer to “the claw”. For consistency purposes, all references throughout the claims after the term “a bell-shaped claw” was introduced in claim 1 should be to only one of “the bell-shaped claw” or “the claw”, and should not switch between the two options. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the claw can be acted upon by the tensioner” at line 7 should be replaced with “the claw is configured to be acted upon by the tensioner”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “thereby pivots about a pivot axis/es” at line 11 should be replaced with “thereby pivots about a pivot axis”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities: “its outer edge” at line 3 should be replaced with “the outer edge of the claw”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: “a component having a recess” at lines 2 – 3 should be replaced with “the component having the recess”. 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.
Claims 3, 4 and 13 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.
Claim 3 recites in part “wherein the bell-shaped claw projects axially no more than 3mm, and in particular no more than 2mm beyond the counter bearing”. The use of “in particular” renders the scope of the claim indefinite as it is unclear if what follows the “in particular” is, or is not, required. For examination purposes, this limitation will be interpreted as “wherein the bell-shaped claw projects axially no more than 3mm beyond the counter bearing”.
Claim 4 recites in part “an inner side of the claw” at lines 3 – 4. It is unclear if the inner side referenced in claim 4 is the same as the inner side introduced in claim 1 at line 5. For examination purposes, the inner side of claim 4 will be interpreted as the same inner side introduced in claim 1.
Claim 13 recites the limitation "the counter bearing plate" at line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 2, 5 – 12, 14 and 15 are allowed.
Claims 3, 4 and 13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: None of the cited references, either alone or in combination, disclose the claimed limitations. The closest piece of prior art is Gunther et al. (German Patent Application Publication No. DE 1961489), which discloses a fastener for fastening in a recess (2) of a component (1), comprising a bell-shaped claw (3) and comprising a tensioning axis (23) that passes through the claw (3) (Fig. 6). Gunther fails to disclose a tensioner on an outer side of the claw and a counter bearing on an inner side of the claw at a radial distance from the tensioning axis between an outer edge of the claw and the tensioning axis, and in that, starting from an untensioned state, the claw can be acted upon by the tensioner in a tensioning direction at a smaller radial distance from the tensioning axis than the radial distance of the counter bearing from the tensioning axis along the tensioning axis in such a way that the claw is pressed against the counter bearing and thereby pivots about a pivot axis/es surrounding the tensioning axis or about one or more pivot axis/es tangential to the tensioning axis on the counter bearing, as a result of which the outer edge of the claw moves radially away from the tensioning axis as claimed in independent claim 1.
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/JASON D SHANSKE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3614
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