DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 29-49 are presented for examination.
Specification
2. Examiner requests Applicants to update status of related application as mentioned in specification.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the "right to exclude" granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. See In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970);and, In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent is shown to be commonly owned with this application. See 37 CFR 1.130(b).
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
3. Claims 29-49 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-46 of U.S. Patent No. 9,489,661 [ hereinafter as ‘661 patent ], claims 1-24 of U.S. Patent No. 9,443,227 [ hereinafter as ‘227 patent ], claims 1-22 of U.S. Patent No 10,581,768 [ hereinafter as ‘768 patent ], and claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No 11,316,809 [ hereinafter as ‘809] in view of Karul [ US Patent Application No 2010/0037050 ]. The ‘661, ‘227, ‘768, ‘809 patents disclose all the limitations of claim 1 except a message at least partially encrypted with a first encryption, and transmitting the message without the first encryption, however, Karul discloses the limitation [ i.e. messages are encrypted according to credentials associated with a user and the server decrypts the message ] [ Abstract; and paragraphs 0006, and 0020 ]. It would have been obvious to a person skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of ‘661, ‘227, ‘768, ‘809 and Karul because the teaching of Karul would enable to secure delivery and receipt of encrypted data utilizing a trusted server for user credentials [ Karul, paragraph 0001 ].
4. Claims 29-49 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,425,061, claims 1-21 of U.S. Patent No. 12,041,019, claims 1-21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,700,216, and claims 1-21 of U.S. Patent No 12,388,775. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims of the patents anticipate the claims of the current application.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nassiri [ US Patent Application No 2006/0265464 ] discloses method of certified electronic mail using digital rights management
Chen et al. [ US Patent Application No 2008/0215694 ] discloses method for unified messaging services
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/DUSTIN NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445
