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 § 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, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-11, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 10,575,642 B2 (Karl) in view of GB 2586304 A (Jonsson ‘304).
With respect to claim 1: Karl discloses a table (Figs. 35-40: table 240) comprising: a table top (tabletop 250); a rotationally molded (Brief Summary of the Invention @ col. 2: “The individual components are rotationally molded…”) table base (base 242) for supporting the table top, the table base having a bottom portion (at least floor end 246) and an interior (hollow cavity 262).
The recitation “rotationally molded” in claim 1 is best understood as a product-by-process claim recitation.
“[E]ven though product-by-process claims are lim-ited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patent-ability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process.” In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
In the present case, the claimed “rotationally molded table base” is the same as or obvious from Karl’s table 240 and/or base 242, even if the table 240 and/or base 242 is/are made by a different process. Further, the Brief Summary of the Invention of Karl’s disclosure states that individual components are rotationally molded.
Karl does not disclose “a mounting assembly including a base member for being secured to a floor and having the bottom portion of the table base positioned thereabove; the mounting assembly including a blocking member configured to be positioned in the interior of the table base above the bottom portion of the table base and connected to the base member; and the mounting assembly having a secured configuration wherein the blocking member inhibits movement of the bottom portion of the table base away from the base member” as claimed.
Karl col. 8, lines 1-17 disclose the hollow cavity 262 of the base 242 is filled with sand. The cavity 262 is filled from the open top thereof.
The various embodiments of furniture in Karl’s disclosure are for “intensive use” in institutional settings such as prisons, jails, detention centers, and psychiatric facilities. The furniture is designed to prevent concealing items within or underneath the furniture, and may be secured to other pieces of furniture, a wall, and/or the floor.
Karl Figs. 1-10 is an embodiment of a bed 20 that is secured to the floor F with bolts B. Figs. 11-12 are to a nightstand 60 that is secured to the floor F, and Figs. 13-14 are to a nightstand 60 secured to a wall W. Karl also discloses a shelf 90 attached to a wall W (Figs. 15-16), a desk 120 secured to the floor (Figs. 17-19), a footstool 150 secured to the floor (Figs. 20-24), a wardrobe 190 secured to the floor and/or wall (Figs. 25-34), and a bookshelf 270 secured to a wall (Figs. 41-42).
Jonsson ‘304 teaches that sand makes furniture heavy, and therefore very difficult to move (page 6, lines 12-17).
Jonsson ‘304’s invention is to the same field of endeavor as Karl’s inventions (Jonsson ‘304’s “Field of invention”), and desires to secure furniture to the floor. This prevents furniture from being moved and used, for example, as barricades or barriers against prison staff.
Jonsson ‘304 Figs. 1-3 show a stool body 2 constructed from rigid plastics, and having a hollow interior. The underside 4 of the body 2 has a V-shaped recess 6, and each corner of the recess 6 has a deeper aperture 8 extending into the body 2. A bracket 10 is secured to the floor using screws or similar fixing means 14. When the stool body 2 is placed on top of the bracket 10, the flanges 12 of bracket 10 extend up into the apertures 8.
The body 2 is provided initially with the top surface or lid separate therefrom, thereby allowing a user access to the hollow interior of body 2 to secure the bracket 10 and body 2 together. The bracket 10 is “secured by conventional means, such as, for example, a nut and bolt arrangement extending through the base 4 of the main body 2”. Alternatively or additionally, “clamps could be placed on or around the flanges 12 extending up from the bracket 10 and through the base 4 to prevent the body 2 from being lifted off the bracket 10”. The lid or top surface is then sealed in place over the body 2.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Karl’s table 240 to be secured to the floor F using Jonsson ‘304’s bracket 10, in order to prevent unwanted movement of table 240 (as in Jonsson ‘304’s invention, preventing use as a barrier or barricade against prison staff) and/or to better prevent concealing items within or underneath the furniture (bracket 10 completely prevents access underneath table 240, the heavy weight of the sand in hollow cavity 262 makes access underneath table 240 very difficult).
Such a modification meets, as claimed, a mounting assembly including a base member (bracket 10, as used to secure Karl’s table 240) for being secured to a floor (Karl’s floor F) and having the bottom portion of the table base positioned thereabove (Karl’s floor end 246 is positioned above bracket 10; analogous to Jonsson ‘304’s underside 4 being positioned above bracket 10); the mounting assembly including a blocking member (Jonsson ‘304’s nut and bolt arrangement and/or clamps) configured to be positioned in the interior of the table base above the bottom portion of the table base and connected to the base member (analogous to Jonsson ‘304’s teaching of securing the flanges 12 of bracket 10 inside the body 2 using the nut and bolt arrangement and/or clamps); and the mounting assembly having a secured configuration wherein the blocking member inhibits movement of the bottom portion of the table base away from the base member (when the nut and bolt arrangement and/or clamps are secured to flanges 12 of bracket 10, thereby securing the furniture to the floor).
With respect to claim 2: Karl, as modified, meets wherein the bottom portion of the table base and the blocking member include though openings (Karl’s modified base 242 has Jonsson ‘304’s apertures 8 as “through openings”; the clamps of the “blocking member” have “through openings” where the flanges 12 pass therethrough); wherein the base member (bracket 10) includes at least one protrusion (three flanges 12) for extending in the through openings of the bottom portion of the table base and the blocking member (flanges 12 extend through apertures 8 in base 242 and the clamps); and wherein the mounting assembly includes at least one locking member (the nut and bolt arrangement) configured to be secured to the protrusion of the base member and inhibit movement of the blocking member away from the base member.
With respect to claim 4: Karl, as modified, meets wherein the base member (bracket 10) includes a plate portion (main body of bracket 10) and bosses (flanges 12) upstanding therefrom; wherein the blocking member includes a plate portion (clamps) having openings to receive the bosses (such that the clamps are around the flanges 12 as disclosed by Jonsson ‘304); wherein the bottom portion of the table base includes openings (apertures 8) to receive the bosses; and wherein the mounting assembly includes locking members (the nut and bolt arrangement) to be secured to the bosses and keep the blocking member and bottom portion of the table base between the locking members and the plate portion of the base member (the clamps and bottom of base 242 are held between the nut/bolt arrangement and the main body of bracket 10).
With respect to claim 5: Karl, as modified, meets wherein the plate portion of the base member includes openings (where the screws or similar fixing means 14 pass through bracket 10); and wherein the mounting assembly includes anchors (the screws or similar fixing means 14) to extend in the through openings and secure the base member to the floor.
With respect to claim 6: Karl, as modified, meets wherein the mounting assembly includes stops (the tops/heads of the screws or similar fixing means 14) to resist deflection of the bottom portion of the table base toward the base member.
With respect to claim 7: Karl, as modified, meets wherein the base member (bracket 10) includes through openings (where the screws or similar fixing means 14 pass through bracket 10); wherein the mounting assembly includes anchors (the screws or similar fixing means 14) to extend in the through openings and secure the base member to the floor (as in Jonsson ‘304’s invention); and wherein the stops include upper portions of the anchors (the tops/heads of the screws or similar fixing means 14).
With respect to claim 8: Karl, as modified, meets wherein the table base has a lower rim (Jonsson ‘304 Figs. 1-3: the underside 4 forms “a lower rim” as claimed) configured to contact the floor about the base member (surrounds bracket 10) and conceal the base member (“It can also be seen that the securement assembly is neither visible nor accessible to person whose intention is to release the securement to move the stool from its desired position.”).
With respect to claim 9: See Jonsson ‘304 Figs. 1-3. Karl, as modified, meets wherein the bottom portion of the table base includes a central wall portion (portion forming recess 6; where the lead line for reference numeral 6 ends in Fig. 1), a lower rim (portion of underside 4 surrounding recess 6; where the lead line for reference numeral 4 ends in Fig. 1), and a tapered wall portion connecting the central wall portion and the lower rim (wall connecting recess 6 and underside 4); and wherein the blocking member engages the central wall portion of the table base with the mounting assembly in the secured configuration thereof (the clamps and/or nut and bolt arrangement secure the bracket 10 in engagement with recess 6).
With respect to claim 10: Karl, as modified, meets wherein the table base has a unitary, one-piece construction (base 242 is rotationally molded into the one-piece form shown in Karl Figs. 35-40).
With respect to claim 11: Karl, as modified, meets further comprising fasteners (Jonsson ‘304’s screws or similar fixing means 14) for securing the base member to the floor (“the bracket 10 is first secured to the floor in the desired location using screws 14 or similar fixing means”); and wherein the base member (bracket 10) includes through openings to receive the fasteners (where screws 14 or similar fixing means pass through bracket 10).
With respect to claim 13: Karl, as modified, meets wherein the table top and the table base have outer surfaces that are ligature-resistant (Abstract of Karl teaches that being without ligature tie off points such as holes prevents such a use; the table top and base lack such ligature tie off points).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 10,575,642 B2 (Karl) in view of GB 2586304 A (Jonsson ‘304) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of DE 10 2012 105 618 A1 (Nobilia-Werke).
With respect to claim 3: Karl, as modified, does not meet “wherein the bottom portion of the table base and the blocking member include through openings; wherein the base member includes at least one threaded stud for extending in the through openings of the bottom portion of the table base and the blocking member; and at least one nut for being secured to the threaded stud above the blocking member” as claimed.
Nobilia-Werke discloses attaching furniture, for example cabinets, to the floor using a fixed support 3 attached to the ground 4 with screws 7. Bolts 8 project upwards from the fixed support 3. The holders 5 of the furniture 1 are secured by the bolts 8 passing through holes (not numbered), and secured with washers (not numbered) and nuts 19.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Karl’s table 240 to be secured to the floor using Nobilia-Werke’s structure instead of Jonsson ‘304’s structure, because both are known for attaching an article of furniture to the floor.
This meets, as claimed, wherein the bottom portion of the table base and the blocking member include through openings (bottom of base 242 has “through openings” for bolts 8; the washers have “through openings” for bolts 8); wherein the base member includes at least one threaded stud (bolts 8) for extending in the through openings of the bottom portion of the table base and the blocking member; and at least one nut (nut 19) for being secured to the threaded stud above the blocking member.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 10,575,642 B2 (Karl) in view of GB 2586304 A (Jonsson ‘304) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of GB 2598786 A (Jonsson ‘786).
With respect to claim 12: Karl, as modified, meets wherein the table base includes a body (the main body of Karl’s base 242), the body including the interior (hollow cavity 262) and the bottom portion (floor end 246), the body having an upper opening (top opening of hollow cavity 262) that opens to the interior.
Karl, as modified, does not meet “a lid…and wherein the lid is configured to close the upper opening of the body of the table base” as claimed.
Karl discloses the hollow cavity 262 filled with sand. This increases the weight of the table 240, thereby making it difficult to move.
Jonsson ‘786 Fig. 2 shows the bottom of an article of furniture 18 with a recess (not numbered) that is the same or similar as recess 6 of Jonsson ‘304. The opening 22 receives sand or other flowable material, and is closed by a bung 10.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Karl’s hollow cavity 262 to be closed by a bung, because Jonsson ‘786 shows it is known in the art to close such an opening with a bung.
This meets, as claimed, a lid (the bung)…and wherein the lid is configured to close the upper opening of the body of the table base.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW ROERSMA whose telephone number is (571)270-3185. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Troy can be reached at 571-270-3742. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW ROERSMA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3637
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