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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-27 are currently pending.
Claims 15-27 have been withdrawn from consideration.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-14, in the reply filed on 08/24/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 15-27 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 08/24/2026.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Freund et al. (US 2022/0080699 A1).
Regarding claims 1-2, 4-6 and 9-11,
Freund teaches an exterior polymeric laminate with high traction (a composite traction member) (Freund: abstract; par. 0007). The composite traction member comprising: an outer layer or film that provides traction comprising a thermoset or thermoplastic polymer (12A; a polymer traction layer) including a surface that is textured to provide traction (a tractional face configured to promote traction) (Freund: Fig. 3; par. 0014-0020 and 0068); and a fabric or film layer composed of a polymer (14, a polymer structural substrate) which includes a substrate core and a substrate face (Freund: Fig. 3; par. 0014-0020, 0068, and 0111).
The polymer traction layer (12A) and the polymer structural substrate (14) may be co-molded together, which would form a layer interface between the two layers in which the substrate face would be coupled along the layer interface of the polymer traction layer (Freund: par. 0101). A molded weld assembly may be utilized interconnecting the polymer structural substrate and the polymer traction layer to form a preform (16) in which the molded weld assembly includes the substrate face and the layer interface, and a molding initiated fusion zone as the two may be heat bonded together via molding (a molding initiated fusion zone) to such an extent so as to form the preform laminate to have no air between the two layers (immutably interconnected/continuously interconnected along a length of the composite traction member) (Freund: par. 0023-0025 and 0101).
Regarding claim 7,
Freund teaches the composite traction member required by claim 1. Freund further the polymer structural substrate is a thin rectangular piece of material that may be sized to fit over the desired object including a boat surface or a paddle board or a floor and thus may structurally be considered a panel or a board (Freund: par. 0012 and 0077-0092).
Regarding claim 8,
Freund teaches the composite traction member required by claim 1. Freund further teaches the molding-initiated zone may be considered a weld as the two layers are bonded together via heat and a molding process between the substrate face and the layer interface as explained above in the rejection of claim 1 (Freund: par. 0023-0025 and 0101).
The process steps requiring the polymer structural substrate to be solid polymer transitioned from a molten polymer, and the molten to solid transition fuses the substrate face with the layer interface are product by process limitations. When the prior art discloses a product which reasonably appears to be either identical with or only slightly different than a product claimed in a product-by-process claim, a rejection based alternatively on either Section 102 or Section 103 is proper. See MPEP 2113. In this case, there appears to be no structural difference between the resulting structure of Freund and the final structure required by the claims.
Regarding claim 12,
Freund teaches the composite traction member required by claim 1. Freund further teaches polymer structural substrate may include nylon (a thermoplastic) (Freund: claim 6).
Regarding claim 14,
Freund teaches the composite traction member required by claim 1. Freund further teaches the polymer traction layer may include an elastomer (Freund: par. 0020).
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Freund in view of French et al. (WO 2011/163336 A2).
Regarding claim 2,
Freund teaches the composite traction member required by claim 1. Freund does not explicitly teach wherein the tractional face is a tacky surface.
French teaches an article comprising an outer layer that provides traction enhancement (French: abstract). The external layer is coated/treated to create a tacky surface to improve traction on various surfaces without leaving residue (French: pgs. 5-10).
Freund and French are in the corresponding field of composite traction members desiring improved traction. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to coat the external surface of Freund to provide the tractional face to be a tacky surface to improve traction as taught by French.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Freund in view of Tseng et al. (US 5,926,901 A).
Regarding claim 13,
Freund teaches the composite traction member required by claim 1. Freund does not explicitly teach wherein the polymer structural substrate includes a thermoset. However, Freund does teach a foam layer (17) may be laminated via molding/heat fusing to the fabric or film layer (14, the polymer structural substrate) in which the combination of the fabric and foam layer may be formed of a polymer such as polyurethane to provide added durability when used in combination to the fabric layer and thus may be considered part of the polymer structural substrate (Freund: par. 0022-0025, 0063, and 0103-0105).
Tseng teaches an article comprising a foam grip (a composite traction member) (Tseng: abstract). The foam grip comprises a polyurethane foam that preferably has latex (a thermoset) added to provide the foam with improved flexibility (Tseng: col. 2, lin. 48-67 – col. 3, lin. 1-49).
Freund and Tseng are in the corresponding field of composite traction articles for use as a grip around various articles. Therefore, it would be obvious to add a thermoset, such as latex, to the polymer structural substrate of Freund to provide improved flexibility as taught by Tseng.
Conclusion
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/TRAVIS M FIGG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783
