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
Claims 1-19 and 24-26 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected apparatus Group I, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/04/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I (Figs. 1-35B) in the reply filed on 05/04/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 20 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wong et al. (US 20090306675 A1) (hereon referred to as Wong).
Regarding claim 20, Wong teaches a method for correcting bunion deformity (see Para. [0005]), the method comprising:
inserting a k-wire (see Para. [0046]) into a first metatarsal (see Para. [0005]);
engaging an engagement portion (106) of a second arm (108) with a second metatarsal (see Fig. 27E and Para. [0081]);
sliding a rotation guide (20) over the k-wire (see Para. [0046]) such that the k-wire is disposed in a bore (23) of the rotation guide (20), the rotation guide (20) rotatably coupled to a first arm (116, see Para. [0054]);
inserting an elongated member (102) through an attachment portion (112) of the second arm, the elongated member (102) having a first end and a second end, wherein the first arm is coupled to the first end (see Fig. 10);
reducing a first distance between the first arm (116) and the second arm (108) to reduce a second distance between the first metatarsal and the second metatarsal (see Para. [0080]); and
rotating the rotation guide (20) with respect to the first arm (116) to rotate the first metatarsal about a longitudinal axis of the first metatarsal (see Para. [0081]).
Regarding claim 23, Wong teaches the method of claim 20, further comprising bringing a contact arm (118) of the first arm (116) into contact with the first metatarsal such that the rotation guide (20) is spaced apart from the first metatarsal (see Para. [0051]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 27-36 are allowed.
Claims 21 and 22 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The claims in the instant application have not been rejected using prior art because no references, or reasonable combination thereof, could be found which disclose, or suggest, the claimed combination of limitations recited in independent claim 27 and dependent claim 21. In particular, none of the cited references teach or suggest the step of reducing an intermetatarsal angle between the first metatarsal and the second metatarsal as required by both claims 21 and 27.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See form PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOLLY J LANE whose telephone number is (703)756-4702. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:00pm.
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/H.J.L./Examiner, Art Unit 3773 /EDUARDO C ROBERT/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3773
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