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 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) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pippert (US 4379558) in view of Balsells (US 5709371).
Regarding claims 1, 5, 6 and 10, Pippert discloses a sealing element 40 Fig. 6 for sealing a gap between a first member 52 and a second member 50, comprising: an annular seal body 42 having an inner surface, an outer surface and a pair of side surfaces each connected between opposite ends of the inner surface and the outer surface; and a first garter spring 18 Fig. 2 embedded within at least one of an inner and an outer corner of the annular seal body and a second round garter spring 16 received within the first garter spring. However, Pippert fails to explicitly disclose where the first garter spring is rectangular in configuration. Balsells, shows this to be well known in the art. Balsells discloses the use of various shaped garter seals including a first rectangular shape garter spring 330 Fig. 65 and an embedded second round garter spring 332. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the garter spring of Pippert to a rectangular shape as taught by Balsells in order to reduce material damage and improved extrusion resistance. (Abstract of Balsells)
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENE G BYRD whose telephone number is (571)270-1824. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm.
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/EUGENE G BYRD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675
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