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 .
Remarks
This communication is in response to Application No. 19/056,570 filed on 02/18/2025.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 12/22/2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed 02/18/2025 are acceptable.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to for the issue(s) below.
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Correction is required. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Interpretation Under 35 USC § 112
No claim elements in this application are presumed to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f).
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, 7-10, 13-15, 18 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 10,126,090 Bl, hereinafter D1.
As to claim 1.
D1 discloses an archery bowstring (300 in figs. 5-6) comprising:
a first portion (first bundle of strands 312) and a second portion (second bundle of strands 314),
the first portion (first bundle of strands 312) comprising a first plurality of longitudinally oriented strands (col. 9, lns. 44+),
the second portion (second bundle of strands 314) comprising a second plurality of longitudinally oriented strands (col. 9, lns. 44+),
the first portion (first bundle of strands 312) attached to the second portion (second bundle of strands 314) at a connection (bundles 312, 314 are connected to each other at at least one end (e.g., the first end 302 in the embodiment of FIG. 5).
As to claim 7.
D1 discloses a cross-section of the first portion excludes the second plurality of strands (fig. 6 shows separate portions).
As to claim 8.
D1 discloses a cross-section of the second portion excludes the first plurality of strands (fig. 6 shows separate portions).
As to claim 9.
D1 discloses the first portion (first bundle of strands 312) comprising a first terminal loop (308).
As to claim 10.
D1 discloses the second portion (second bundle of strands 314) comprising a second terminal loop (310).
As to claim 13.
D1 discloses an archery bow (fig. 1) comprising:
a riser (102, fig. 1), a first limb (one of 104, 106), a second limb (the other one of 104, 106), a first rotatable member (one of 114, 116) and a second rotatable member (the other one of 114, 116);
a bowstring (300 in figs. 5-6) comprising a first portion (generally 316) and a second portion (generally 320),
the first portion (generally 316) comprising a first plurality of longitudinally oriented strands (one of first bundle of strands 312 or second bundle of strands 314) and a terminal loop (308) attached to the first rotatable member (shown but not numbered in fig. 1; col. 11, ln. 17+),
the second portion (generally 320) comprising a second plurality of longitudinally oriented strands (the other one of first bundle of strands 312 or second bundle of strands 314), the first portion (generally 316) attached to the second portion (generally 320) at a connection (e.g. portion indicated by fig. 7 in fig. 5).
As to claim 14.
D1 discloses the first plurality of strands comprising a first group of strands and a second group of strands extending from the connection (312 and 314 extend from 320).
As to claim 15.
D1 discloses an accessory positioned between the first group of strands and the second group of strands (fig. 5 and 7 referring to 338).
As to claim 18.
D1 discloses a power cable (fig. 9) comprising a first section (generally 502) and a second section (generally 504), the first section (generally 502) comprising a first plurality of longitudinally oriented strands (one of 510 or 512), the second section (generally 504) comprising a second plurality of longitudinally oriented strands (504 is referred to as a string and as used in D1 includes the strand construction as described in D1), the first section (generally 502) attached to the second section (generally 504) at a cable connection (506).
As to claim 19.
D1 discloses the second section attached to the second rotatable member (via loops 518 and 520).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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) 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 as applied to Claim 1.
As to claims 11-12.
D1 does not disclose [claim 11] the first portion (first bundle of strands 312) comprising a first material, the second portion (second bundle of strands 314) comprising a second material different from the first material, or
[claim 12] the first portion (first bundle of strands 312) comprising a first number of strands, the second portion (second bundle of strands 314) comprising a second number of strands different from the first number.
An invention is obvious where some teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference or to combine prior art reference teachings to arrive at the claimed invention. D2 is in a related field and teaches constructing a bowstring with different materials (the present invention relates to a bowstring made up of a plurality of strands each strand made of at least two different fibers, col. 3, ln. 31+) and with different numbers of strands (col. 7, ln. 1+).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teachings of D2 to modify the bowstring of D1 for the purpose of providing an improved bow string, i.e. the blend of fibers results in a bowstring having high tensile strength and good creep resistance.
Further, at the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to choose different materials and different numbers of strands. Applicant has not disclosed that the limitations of claims 11-12 provide an advantage, are used for a particular purpose or solves a stated problem. One of ordinary skill in the art, furthermore, would have expected Applicant’s invention to perform equally well because both bow strings provide the same functionality.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine to one of ordinary skill in this art to modify D1 with to obtain the invention as specified in claims 11-12. Where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device (MPEP 2144.04).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 16-17 and 20 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 on the attached PTOL-892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure as each further discloses a state of the art.
The examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record in the body of this action for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. Applicant should consider the entire prior art as applicable as to the limitations of the claims. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the response, to consider fully the entire reference as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or pointed out by the examiner.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to J. T. Newton, Esq. whose telephone number is (313)446-4899. The examiner can normally be reached 0700-1500 M-F.
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, SPE Justin Mikowski can be reached at (571) 272-8525. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J. T. Newton/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3673 18 August 2026
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