DETAILED ACTION
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 1-22 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.
In claim 1, it is suggested that “comprising helically wound” be changed to --, the rope comprising helically wound--, for clarity.
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.
Claims 1-6, 8-10, and 14-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Faessler et al., US Patent 5,181,402.
Regarding claim 1, Faessler provides much of the general design of the claimed invention, including a security device including a flexible rope inherently having a diameter where the rope comprising collars clamping the rope at spaced locations there along, and each collar inherently engaging the rope with sufficient pressure to prevent substantial relative lateral movement of the collar at each location.
Regarding claim 1, Faessler does not explicitly disclose A) the rope being a flexible metal rope, B) a diameter of the rope being in the range 10- 1. 25mm, C) helically wound strands, D) the spacing being no greater than the rope diameter, E) each collar having a wall thickness in the range 5-15% of the rope diameter, F) each collar engaging the rope with sufficient pressure to prevent substantial relative lateral movement of the strands at each location. However, each of these limitations would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art for the following reasons:
Regarding A) and C), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the effective filing date of the invention was made to have modified the invention in these ways, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416. See also Ballas Liquidating Co. v. Allied industries of Kansas, Inc. (DC Kans) 205 USPQ 331. One may have elected for such materials in an application involving heavy duty component and for the desire of providing better securing and/or security features of the securing device, as generally understood and practiced in the art.
Regarding B), D), and E), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time effective filing date of the invention was made to have modified the invention in these ways, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. Such a modification would have only involved routine experimentation, producing no unexpected results.
Regarding F), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the effective filing date of the invention was made to have modified the device in this way, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980). Such a modification may have added to the overall stiffness of the rope, if desired for a particular application where such stiffness would be useful in practice.
Regarding claims 2-6, 8-10, and 14-21, the prior art element performs the function specified in the claim in substantially the same manner as the function is performed by the corresponding element described in the specification, and such structure are considered art recognized equivalent structures and would have functional at least equally as well. It would have been obvious to modify the device in this way for the purpose of providing an alternative arrangement that would have functioned at least equally as well. In addition, (a) combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results; (b) simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results; (c) use of known technique to improve similar devices in the same way; (c) applying a known technique to a known device ready for improvement to yield predictable have each been held as being obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art. Further, (e) it would be obvious to try such a modification, since choosing from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success has been held as obvious. See KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398 (2007).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 11-13, as best understood, 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK A WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-7064. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday.
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/MARK A WILLIAMS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675