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 .
Drawings/Specification
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “recoil wire” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference characters "66" and "69" have both been used to designate “rear trunnion” (however it is noted that the reference character “69” could not be found in the drawings). Corrected drawing sheets (or specification, as it may be) in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 3 and 8 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 (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
With regards to Claim 3, the claim contains the trademark/trade name Picatinny®. Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe a dovetail accessory rail and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite.
With regards to Claim 8, the claim recites “another horizontal gap” in line 1 and then “the horizontal gap” and “another horizontal gap” in line 3; it is not clear how there can be another horizontal gap without there being a first horizontal gap and then it is not clear if the second instance, reciting “the horizontal gap” is supposed to be cited previously.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-5 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Faifer (US 10,598,464). Faifer discloses a firearm cover assembly comprising: a cover (10) constructed to extend along an upper portion of an underlying receiver, the cover being pivotably connected to an underlying firearm so that the cover is pivotable about a forward oriented pivot axis (Fig. 44); an opening (68, 70) formed in a rearward oriented portion of the cover; a latch (106) having structure allowing it to selectively engage the cover; a trunnion block (16) securable to the underlying receiver and constructed to engage the latch so that the latch is slideable relative to the trunnion block in a direction that is transverse to the forward oriented pivot axis; and a button (110) defined by the latch and shaped to slideably cooperate with the opening formed in the cover so that the cover can rotate about the forward oriented pivot axis in a direction away from the underlying receiver when the button is disengaged from the opening and so that engagement of the button defined by the latch with the opening formed in the cover defines a fixed non-adjustable lateral position and a fixed inclination of the cover relative to the underlying receiver.
2. The firearm cover assembly of claim 1 further comprising an accessory rail (24) formed along at least a portion of the cover between the forward oriented pivot axis and the opening forming the rearward oriented portion of the cover.
3. The firearm cover assembly of claim 2 wherein the accessory rail is further defined as a Picatinny® rail. (col. 3, line 67)
4. The firearm cover assembly of claim 1 wherein the trunnion block includes a tang that extends in a rearward direction and is constructed to secure a stock relative to the underlying receiver. (Fig. 45)
5. The firearm cover assembly of claim 1 further comprising a recoil wire secured to a forward-facing portion of the latch and passing through a passage defined by a bolt carrier slideably associated with the underlying receiver. (see, at least, Fig. 11)
7. The firearm cover assembly of claim 1 further comprising a horizontal gap formed between the opening and the button when the button is fully engaged with the opening. (see, at least, Fig. 16)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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 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 MICHELLE CLEMENT whose telephone number is (571)272-6884. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6.
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, Troy Chambers can be reached at 571.272.6874. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHELLE CLEMENT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3641
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