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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1,2,20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Busha (20020096120 A1). Busha shows a feeder 10 comprising a) a base portion having a serving area with a feeding dish 70; a chamber portion 24 supported by the base portion and configured to retain a granular material within a chamber interior; a dispenser 40 configured to segregate a portion of the granular material from the chamber interior and transfer the portion of the granular material from the chamber portion to the serving area, wherein the dispenser includes a rocker body configured to partially rotate about a rotational axis from a resting position to a dispensing position; and a lid 28 which is shown in Fig 2 to be affixed to the feeder via a hinge; and wherein the lid is distanced from a serving wall part of a housing such as to form a food gap; and wherein the granular material can be delivered into the feeding dish when the lid is open and closed.
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) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Busha. Although it is not specifically disclosed as to what material the lid of Busha is made, It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to construct the lid of a transparent material in order to see the contents of the feeder to determine whether or not a refill is necessary, and since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of it suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-16,18,19 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 prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited prior art shows examples of animal feeders.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YVONNE ABBOTT whose telephone number is 571-272-6896. The examiner can normally be reached 7am -5:30pmEST Monday- Thursday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy Collins can be reached at 571-272-6886. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YVONNE R ABBOTT-LEWIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3644
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