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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/30/26 has been entered.
Allowable Subject Matter
The indicated allowability of claims 1-5, 7 and 10 is withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference(s) to Swietlik 2019/0293213. Rejections based on the newly cited reference(s) follow.
Claims 14-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 17-20 are allowed.
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) 1-5, 7 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Usui et al. 4,980,960 in view of Swietlik 2019/0293213.
In regard to claim 1, Usui et al. discloses an apparatus (fig. 9) for protecting pipes or wires through a wall penetration comprising:
a base plate 6’ securable to a wall surface 1; and
a collar 6 extending from the base plate and having a bore therethrough, the bore defining an interior passage through the apparatus;
a guide tube (P) connectable within the interior passage, wherein the guide tube is operable to guide into and protect objects within the interior passage,
wherein the guide tube is selectably removable from the collar at any time before, during or after installation of pipes or wires through the interior passage,
wherein the collar includes a rear portion 6” extending from a rear surface of the base plate; and
a compressible tube 5 formed of a heat shrinkable material.
Usui et al. discloses placing the guide tube into the collar, but does not disclose attaching the guide tube with a threaded connection. Swietlik teaches that providing a guide tube 300 in a collar 102 either with (see fig. 2) or without (see fig. 4) a threaded connection is common and well known in the art. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the collar and guide tube of Usui et al. with a threaded connection, because inasmuch as the references disclose these elements as art recognized equivalents, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute one for the other. In re Fout, 675 F.2d 297, 301, 213 USPQ 532, 536 (CCPA 1982).
In regard to claim 2, wherein the collar includes a front portion (two cylindrical portions extend from 6’ in opposite directions in fig. 9) extending from a front surface of the base plate.
In regard to claim 3, wherein the front portion extends from the base plate by a distance equal to or less than to the thickness of a sheet of gyprock (the claim is only positively drawn to the apparatus and not the apparatus in combination with the gyprock, and is capable of being used with gyprock that is thicker than the axial length of either collar portion 6).
In regard to claim 4, wherein the front portion includes tabs extending longitudinally from a distal end thereof (tabs created by longitudinal slots 6”, best shown in fig. 8).
In regard to claim 5, wherein the tabs (tabs created by longitudinal slots 6”) are connected to the front collar so (“as to be selectably removable therefrom” is an intended use limitation that carries little patentable weight in an apparatus claims, the protrusions created by slots 6” are capable of being removed, for example by cutting them off and are therefore deemed to anticipate the intended use limitation of the claim).
In regard to claim 10, wherein the compressible tube is radially compressible around the interior passage (5 is made from heat shrink material and capable of shrinking inward when heated).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID E. BOCHNA whose telephone number is (571)272-7078. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-5:30.
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/DAVID BOCHNA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3679
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