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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on applications filed in China on 11/20/2023 and 11/01/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN202311556493.2 and CN202411554075.4 applications as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
It is noted the attempt by the Office to electronically retrieve, under the priority document exchange program, the above applications FAILED on 04-20-2025.
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.
Claims 1, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tao et al. (US#2025/0188973).
Regarding claim 1, Tao discloses a fastening clip assembly, comprising:
a clip 10 comprising a pair of side walls and a head 11 provided at first ends of the pair of side walls 121, the clip further comprising an internal cavity ([0014, hollow part) between the pair of side walls, and the head being provided with an opening 111 in communication with the internal cavity; and
an insert 20 comprising a pair of legs 221 and a pair of latching arms 227 respectively provided on outer sides of the pair of legs, the pair of legs being connected together at their proximal ends and forming free ends (adjacent 226) at their distal ends, and the pair of latching arms each being positioned between the respective proximal end and the respective distal end and extending toward the proximal end (Fig. 3), wherein the pair of legs are inserted at least partially into the internal cavity of the clip through the opening, and the pair of latching arms are configured to, when the clip is in a use state, cooperate with the head of the clip to limit withdrawal of the insert from the clip via portion 228 of the arms 227 (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 8, wherein the pair of latching arms 227 have “widened” free ends as the free end portion of arms 227 is wider than a free end of portion 228 thereof (see Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 9, wherein each of the pair of legs 221 is provided with an outwardly-protruding limiting boss 23 on an outer side of the proximal end thereof.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 and 10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM L MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-7068. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 - 6:00 PM.
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WILLIAM L. MILLER
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3677
/WILLIAM L MILLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3677
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