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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1–6 in the reply filed on 5/26/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 7–9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 5/26/2026.
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) 1–6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wetzel (US 2016/0281267 A1).
Wetzel teaches a thermoplastic filament for use in making three-dimensionally printed parts, wherein the filament comprises a portion at its center that extends along the length of the filament, and extensions that extend from the center portion. Wetzel abstract, ¶¶ 7, 16, Fig. 1A. The filament cross section may have a concave shape, wherein the concave shape is a polygonal shape. Id. ¶ 64. The ratio of the length of the filament relative to the center portion is greater than 1. Id. ¶ 65. The extensions extend in a direction perpendicular to the center axis of the filament and comprise two different materials, a first material of a darker first color and a second material of a lighter color. Id. ¶¶ 16, 50, 53, Fig. 1A. As shown in the figure below, the filament extensions are distributed regularly around the filament center portion and are straight. Id.
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Fig. 1A
Wetzel fails to teach that the polygonal shape of the filament is a star or cross shape. The prior art reference does teach that the “filament is optionally in the form of a cylinder, an rectangular prism, elongated prism structure with a cross sectional area in the shape of a circle, square, rectangle, trapezoid, hexagon, pentagon, other polygon as desired, or an irregular outer shape of the cross sectional area.” Id. ¶ 64. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have selected a star or cross shape for the filament as the polygon shape selected is merely a matter of design choice because star and cross shapes are polygons.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW D MATZEK whose telephone number is (571)272-5732. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Boyd can be reached at 571.272.7783. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW D MATZEK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1786
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