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
Applicant's election with traverse of Species 2, claims 1-20 in the reply filed on 5/18/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Species 2 and Species 3 are not patentably distinct. While the examiner agrees that species 2 and 3 are a single species (hereinafter species 2, Figures 4-10), Species 1 and 2 are not patentably distinct.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/11/2024, 1/14/2026 and 7/14/2026 have been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “40” and “707” has been used to designate multiple different components in at least figures 5, 7 and 10. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because “A vehicle emblem raising and retracting device includes…” which is language which is information repeated from the title and language which can be implied. Additionally, the second and third sentences of the Abstract lack an appropriate article to start the sentence, which is grammatically awkward. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2-9, 11 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites “close to” which is unclear and renders the claims indefinite. Specifically, the term is relative, and the relationship between the components required by the claim cannot be determined.
Claim 2 recites “snapped to” which is unclear and renders the claims indefinite. Specifically, it is unclear what the claim requires by “snapped to”.
Claim 4 recites “a side of the mounting seat” and “an end of the transmission linkage rod” which are double inclusions and the claims are rendered indefinite. These terms have already been defined, and the number of elements required by the claims cannot be determined.
Claim 5 recites “some of the movable linkage rods” and “other moveable linkage rods” which is unclear and renders the claims indefinite. It is unclear which movable linkage rods are and are not included by these recitations.
Claim 6 recites “there is at least one support point” which is unclear and renders the claim indefinite. There is no claimed structure associated with the “at least one support point”, and the location of the support point cannot be determined.
Claim 9 recites “snapped to the horizontal guiding groove” which is unclear for the same reason given for claim 2 above.
Claim 11 recites “the second end is connected with the three-dimensional vehicle emblem via the clutch mechanism” which is unclear and renders the claims indefinite. Specifically, the claimed pin is defined as being part of the clutch mechanism, and it is therefore unclear how it is connected to the emblem.
Claim 17 recites “a vehicle” in line 1 and again in line 3. It is unclear how many vehicles are required by the claims.
Claim 18 recites “close to” and is unclear for the same reasons given for claim 2 above.
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)(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.
(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) 1-4, 6-7, 9-11 and 17-20, as best understood, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Molyneux et al. (USPN 12,097,808).
Molyneux discloses a vehicle emblem raising and retracting device, comprising: a driving mechanism (7), assembled to a vehicle body (see Fig. 19) of a vehicle (see Fig. 19); a clutch mechanism (30/32/6), assembled below a three-dimensional vehicle emblem (2) and selectively connected with the driving mechanism, wherein, when the clutch mechanism is engaged with the driving mechanism, the driving mechanism drives the clutch mechanism to bring the three-dimensional vehicle emblem to move up and down relative to the vehicle body (Column 7, lines 16-18; Column 8, lines 21-36); and when the clutch mechanism is disengaged from the driving mechanism, the clutch mechanism and the three-dimensional vehicle emblem move down under an effect of gravity of the clutch mechanism and the three-dimensional vehicle emblem and located inside the vehicle body (Column 8, line 54-Column 9 line 2); and a linkage rod mechanism (see Figs. 13-14), assembled below a flat vehicle emblem (4) and located at a side (see Figs. 15-18) of the clutch mechanism and abutted against (via 43) the clutch mechanism, wherein, when the clutch mechanism is disengaged from the driving mechanism, the clutch mechanism, during descent, guides the linkage rod mechanism to bring the flat vehicle emblem to move up relative to the vehicle body, to make the flat vehicle emblem above the three-dimensional vehicle emblem without extending beyond a top surface of the vehicle body (Column 8, lines 65-67); further comprising a mounting seat (6), wherein the three-dimensional vehicle emblem is assembled on a top (see Fig. 3) of the mounting seat, and the clutch mechanism is at least partially disposed (see Fig. 3) on the mounting seat; the linkage rod mechanism and the flat vehicle emblem are at a side () of the mounting seat, and a guiding structure (5) is provided at a side (see Fig. 8) of the mounting seat close to the linkage rod mechanism; when the clutch mechanism is engaged with the driving mechanism, an end (43) of the linkage rod mechanism is abutted against a sidewall (see Figs. 15-18) of the mounting seat; and when the clutch mechanism is disengaged from the driving mechanism and the clutch mechanism moves down, the mounting seat, through the guiding structure, guides the linkage rod mechanism to move to bring the flat vehicle emblem to move up relative to the vehicle body of the vehicle and is snapped to the linkage rod mechanism through the guiding structure (see Figs. 15-18); further comprising a housing (not shown), wherein the linkage rod mechanism comprises an abutting linkage rod (40), a transmission linkage rod (58), and a support linkage rod (42, see Fig. 14); wherein one end (43) of the abutting linkage rod is abutted against a side (as best understood, see Figs 15-18) of the mounting seat, another end (see Fig. 14, top of 40) of the abutting linkage rod is connected with one end (see Fig. 14, bottom of 58) of the transmission linkage rod, another end (see Fig. 14, top of 58) of the transmission linkage rod is connected with one end (see Fig. 14, through connection with 38) of the support linkage rod, and another end (see Fig. 14, top of 42 where 37/4 is located) of the support linkage rod is connected with the flat vehicle emblem; and when the clutch mechanism moves down, the mounting seat, through the guiding structure, guides the abutting linkage rod to move to bring the transmission linkage rod to move, so as to bring the support linkage rod to support the flat vehicle emblem to move up relative to the vehicle body of the vehicle; wherein the abutting linkage rod comprises an abutting end (as best understood, 43), a first connection end (41c), and a second connection end (see Fig. 14, top of 40); the abutting end is abutted against a side of the mounting seat, the first connection end is movably connected with an inner wall of the housing, and the second connection end is movably connected with an end of the transmission linkage rod; the abutting end, the first connection end, and the second connection end form a triangle (see Fig. 14); in a vertical direction, the abutting end is between (see Fig. 14) the first connection end and the second connection end, and the first connection end is below (see Fig. 14) the abutting end; and in a horizontal direction, the abutting end is closer to (as 43 contacts the mounting seat, it is necessarily closer) the mounting seat than the first connection end and the second connection end; wherein there is at least one support point (where 39 connects to 42); and the at least one support point is disposed offset from a middle region of the support linkage rod and close to a bottom of the support linkage rod; wherein when the clutch mechanism is engaged with the driving mechanism, a bottom (see Figs. 15-18) of the support linkage rod extends to below at least one movable linkage rod (39), and the transmission linkage rod and the at least one movable linkage rod are folded (see Fig. 15) and accommodated at a side of the support linkage rod away from the mounting seat; wherein the linkage rod mechanism further comprises a slide wheel (43) on the abutting end; the guiding structure comprises a vertical guiding groove (44, column 8, lines 1-3 describe surface as a “channel” which is considered a groove) and a horizontal guiding groove (see Fig. 13, horizontal portion of 44) in communication with the vertical guiding groove, the horizontal guiding groove is above (see Fig. 13) the vertical guiding groove and extends horizontally, and the vertical guiding groove extends vertically; and when the clutch mechanism moves down, the abutting end slides from the vertical guiding groove to the horizontal guiding groove via the slide wheel and is snapped to the horizontal guiding groove (as best understood, see Figs. 15-18); further comprising a slide rail (5) on the vehicle body, wherein the clutch mechanism comprises a slide block (32) and a pin (30), the slide block is slidably disposed (see Figs. 8 and 9) on the slide rail, the pin is slidably inserted (into 33) in the slide block, the driving mechanism is connected (via 34) with the slide block, the pin is movably (at least pivotable about 27) disposed on the mounting seat, and an end (26) of the pin away from the slide block is connected (via 25) with the three-dimensional vehicle emblem; wherein the pin comprises a first end (30) and second end (26) that are opposite to each other, the slide block comprises a position limiting groove (33), the second end is connected with the three-dimensional vehicle emblem via the clutch mechanism (as best understood, as the pin is part of the clutch mechanism, it is connected to the three-dimensional vehicle emblem via the clutch mechanism), and the first end protrudes into the position limiting groove to enable the slide block to bring, through the pin, the clutch mechanism to move up and down, to bring the three-dimensional vehicle emblem to move up and down.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 8 and 12-16 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAKE COOK whose telephone number is (571)272-5968. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached at (571) 270-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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JAKE COOK
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3618
/Jake Cook/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
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