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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendments of 11/27/2025 is acknowledged. Claim 1 is amended. Claim 2 is newly added. Applicant’s amendments to the claims overcame each and every specification and claim objection, and 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 10/02/2025. Claims 1-2 are examined.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, the recitation “the spacer being configured to maintain a shape of a space for allowing air to enter” should be amended to read “the spacer being configured to maintain a shape of the space for allowing air to enter”;
Claim 2, the recitation “wherein the spacer is installed at least one of a head, a shoulder vicinity, a hand, or an arm, or a combination thereof” is suggested to be amended as “wherein the spacer is configured to be installed adjacent to at least one of a head, a shoulder vicinity, a hand, or an arm, or a combination thereof”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-2 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, regards as the invention.
Claim 1 is rejected as being indefinite or failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim how many spaces exist in the recitation “the spacer being configured to maintain a shape of a space for allowing air to enter and for releasing the clothing to allow airflow, and configured to provide a space between each contact surfaces of the body contact portion, the space corresponding to different shape angles depending on body parts, and being configured to maintain the shape-holding space while allowing deformation with the space maintaining a distance between the clothing and the body parts to prevent contact”. After a full review of Applicant’s disclosure, it is unclear how many spaces exist, how many spaces are intended to be claimed, if the space(s) in lines 11-12, 13, 14-15, and 17 is/are the same “shape-holding space” in line 16 and/or line 9. Examiner further submits that because the “space” structures in lines 11-12, 13, 16, and 17 are written after the “configured to” language, these structures are not positively claimed. Applicant is respectfully advised to clarify whether “a space” in lines 11-12 and 13 is/are intended to be new structures that is/are different from the space positively claimed in line 9. For examination purposes, Examiner interprets the “space” recited in lines 11-12, 13, 14-15, 16, and 17 as the same space as recited in line 9. Claim 1 is rejected as best understood by Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Section 33(a) of the America Invents Act reads as follows:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no patent may issue on a claim directed to or encompassing a human organism.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 and section 33(a) of the America Invents Act as being directed to or encompassing a human organism. See also Animals - Patentability, 1077 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 24 (April 21, 1987) (indicating that human organisms are excluded from the scope of patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101).
Claim 1 positively claims portions of the human anatomy, which is not patent eligible subject matter. It is recommended that Applicant adopt language such as "configured to" be associated with the recited portions of the human anatomy (body parts) in order to avoid positively claiming human anatomy.
Claim 2 positively claims portions of the human anatomy, which is not patent eligible subject matter. It is recommended that Applicant adopt language such as "configured to" be associated with the recited portions of the human anatomy (a head, a shoulder vicinity, a hand, or an arm, or a combination thereof) in order to avoid positively claiming human anatomy.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chetham (US 1,434,201 A).
Regarding claim 1, insofar as is definite, Chetham teaches a spacer (crown piece a) for use in a clothing (lines 25-30), the spacer comprising:
a clothing contact portion (see annotated Fig. 3 below);
a body contact portion (see annotated Fig. 3 below, where the body contact portion is opposite the annotated clothing contact surface) configured to protrude to a body side (see annotated Fig. 3 below, once assembled/rested inside a hat as disclosed in lines 25-30), the body contact portion supporting the clothing contact portion (lines 25-38), the clothing contact portion and the body contact portion being arranged to provide a space (perforations d), the space being configured to allow airflow between the clothing and the body (lines 33-44, where air passes between the clothing and the body via perforations d, as best understood), the spacer being configured to maintain a shape (see shape of d as presented in Fig. 3) of a space for allowing air to enter and for releasing the clothing to allow airflow (lines 33-44, where air passes between the clothing and the body via perforations d, as best understood), and configured to provide a space between each contact surfaces of body contact portion (lines 25-44, as best understood), the space corresponding to different shape angles depending on body parts (lines 30-32; Fig. 3 shows perforations d being at an angle and therefore, “corresponding to different shape angles depending on body parts” inasmuch as claimed), and being configured to maintain the shape-holding space while allowing deformation with the space maintaining a distance between the clothing and the body parts to prevent contact (lines 9-17, where the invention a prevents the body from touching the hat, as best understood; line 46 discloses a is flexible, and therefore, configured to allow deformation with the space), and being configured for air to pass (lines 33-44, where air passes between the clothing and the body via perforations d).
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Regarding claim 2, Chetham teaches the spacer according to claim 1, wherein the spacer is installed at least one of a head, a shoulder vicinity, a hand, or an arm, or a combination thereof (at least lines 10-17, where a is affixed to the hat, and therefore, installed at a head).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 11/27/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments appear to be directed to the amended limitations, in which additional consideration and reinterpretation has been given for a new grounds of rejection, as stated above.
Conclusion
15 Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/G.Q.H./Examiner, Art Unit 3732
/KHOA D HUYNH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3732
