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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is a Non-final Office Action for application number 19/092,500 CABLE MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS filed on 3/27/2025. Claims 1-8 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on 3/27/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1, 4, 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by United States Patent No. 12,601,365 to Reynolds.
With regard to claim 1, the method steps are inherent from the Reynolds cable management apparatus (10), including the method steps of suspending a cable management apparatus from an elongated structure (15, 11) using an attachment clip (24) of the cable management apparatus; inserting cables (11) through a mouth of the cable management apparatus (10) and into a first retaining segment (right 12) of the cable management apparatus; engaging a capture arm (20) of the cable management apparatus about the elongated structure between
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow]first
PNG
media_image1.png
115
162
media_image1.png
Greyscale
and second portions of the attachment clip to thereby secure the cable management apparatus about the elongated structure and close the mouth.
With regards to claim 4, Reynolds shows the apparatus which makes the method step inherent of further inserting cables into a second retaining segment (left 12) of the cable management apparatus.
With regards to claim 7, Reynolds shows the apparatus which makes the method step inherent including the method step of wherein the engaging includes hooking a hooked end of the capture arm about the elongated structure. (See Figure 1)
With regards to claim 8, Reynolds shows the apparatus which makes the method step inherent including the method step of wherein the suspending includes hooking a hook portion (60) of the attachment clip about the elongated structure.
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.
Claims 2, 3, 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent No. 12,601,365 to Reynolds.
With regards to claims 2 and 3, the specific timing of the inserting is not specified by Reynolds, but it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art and the Reynolds apparatus that the inserting could be performed before (Claim 3) or after (Claim 2) the suspending because the device does not inhibit the cables from being inserted while suspended or after suspension. The motivation would be to add cables before suspending for easy access to the device or after for adding cables after the device is installed.
With regards to claims 5 and 6, the specific timing of the inserting is not specified by Reynolds, but it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art and the Reynolds apparatus that inserting the cables into the second retaining segment could be performed after the engaging because the second retaining segment has a separate engaging structure. The motivation would be to add cables after installation.
Cited References
PN 12,074,417 to Rand et al. shows a cable bracket
PN 10,670,170 to Shea et al. shows a cable bracket
PN 9,800,028 to Smith et a. shows a cable bracket
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Amy J. Sterling at telephone number 571-272-6823 or to Supervisor Jonathan Liu at 571-272-8227 if the examiner cannot be reached. The examiner can normally be reached (Mon-Fri 8am-5:00pm). The fax machine number for the Technology center is 571-273-8300 (formal amendments), informal amendments or communications 571-273-6823. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application should be directed to the Technology Center receptionist at 571-272-3600.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/AMY J. STERLING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3631 7/15/26
Prosecution Insights