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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 7/10//2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 17-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/10/2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “330” has been used to designate both the free end of first strap 316 and second strap 328. Also, see figure 4 showing “330” shown twice. 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. 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 § 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.
Claims 1-5 and 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 4296558 (Antonious) in view of US 4547982 (Gamm).
Regarding claims 1-5 and 8, Antonious discloses an article of footwear (at least 20 different embodiment are taught in Antonious), the article of footwear comprising,
a sole structure (e.g. 12);
an upper (e.g. 14) attached to the sole structure and defining a foot-receiving cavity (cavity which receives the user’s foot);
a fastening system (adjustable and flexible closure assembly (fastener strap – e.g. first strap 24 and second anchor strap – e.g. 26) coupled to the sole structure and extending over a portion of the foot-receiving cavity, the fastening system comprising a first fastener (fastener strap e.g. 24) and a second fastener (anchor strap e.g. 26) selectively engageable with the first fastener.
Antonious lacks teaching the second fastener having a pocket; and at least one cushion selectively received within the pocket.
Gamm teaches an article of footwear wherein the strap fastener includes a pocket including a cushion [i.e. padding contained internally of the pocket (at least see col. 3, lines 41-44; several embodiments are taught and described including the pocket concealed on the inside of the strap as best shown in figure 23)]. Gamm also teaches the specific location of the pocket is not critical; see col. 3, lines 2-10 and the pocket can be formed of at least a pair of liners essentially connected together around their periphery (see col. 2, lines 58-63).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the article of footwear as taught by Antonious with at least one of the straps with a pocket and at least one cushion received within the pocket (e.g. the second fastener (26) having a pocket and cushion received within), as taught by Gamm, to provide cushioning to the user’s foot especially when a hard item such as a key, which also could be contained within the pocket, could cause discomfort.
Regarding claim 2, Antonious teaches the first fastener includes a first strap (24) having a first end and a second end spaced from the first end and coupled to the sole structure (first free end and a second anchored end of first strap; Antonious teaches several ways of attaching the straps to the footwear (e.g. see figure 24a-c) including of attaching the anchored end of the strap to the sole; such as shown in figure 24A and additionally in figures 1-5, 9-10,13,15-17, etc.).
Regarding claim 3, Antonious teaches the first fastener includes a second strap (26) having a first end and a second end spaced from the first end and coupled to the sole structure (first free end and a second anchored end of first strap; Antonious teaches several ways of attaching the straps to the footwear (see figure 24a-c) including attaching the anchored end of the strap to the sole; such as shown in figure 24A and additionally in figures 1-5, 9-10,13,15-17, etc.).
Regarding claim 4, see hoop (e.g. 38).
Regarding claim 5, each strap has an upper and an opposite lower surface. The pocket as noted in the combination above is concealed on the inside of the strap and is formed with two liners itself and therefore the pocket is arranged between the first surface and the second surface of the second strap.
Regarding claim 8, the combination as taught above includes the fastening system includes a first position where a portion of the at least one cushion is urged against the upper (when straps are secured closed about the footwear) and a second position where the at least one cushion is spaced apart from the upper (when the straps are unsecured).
Regarding claims 9-10, Antonious discloses an article of footwear (at least 20 different embodiment are taught), the article of footwear comprising:
a sole structure (e.g. 12);
an upper (e.g. 14) attached to the sole structure and defining a foot-receiving cavity;
a fastening system (adjustable and flexible closure assembly (fastener strap – e.g. first strap 24 and second anchor strap – e.g. 26) coupled to the sole structure (several of the embodiments including the first embodiment (figs 1-2) are coupled to the sole).
Antonious lacks teaching and at least one cushion arranged in the fastening system, the at least one cushion comprising a first barrier element, a second barrier element coupled to the first barrier element, and a void defined between the first barrier element and the second barrier element.
Gamm teaches an article of footwear wherein the strap fastener includes a pocket including a cushion [i.e. padding contained internally of the pocket (at least see col. 3, lines 41-44; several embodiments are taught and described including the pocket concealed on the inside of the strap as best shown in figure 23)]. Gamm also teaches the specific location of the pocket is not critical; see col. 3, lines 2-10 and the pocket can be formed of at least a pair of liners (first and second barrier elements) essentially connected together around their periphery (see col. 2, lines 58-63). The interior of the pocket forms a “void” for the cushion.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the article of footwear as taught by Antonious with at least one cushion having the first and second barrier elements with at least one cushion arranged in the void formed by the barrier elements, as taught by Gamm, to provide cushioning to the user’s foot especially when a hard item such as a key, which also could be contained within the pocket, could cause discomfort.
Regarding claim 10, see col. 2, lines 58-63 of Gamm.
Claim(s) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the references as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 2009/0217550 (Koo).
Koo teaches a fastener (i.e. straps) attached to the sole by an anchors (e.g. 10,20,30,40 and see attachments 14,24 and 34). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the article of footwear as taught above with the first fastener including an anchor coupled to the sole and a first strap (24 as noted above) coupled to and extending away from the anchor, in view of the teachings of Koo, to facilitate anchoring the straps fasteners to the sole structure.
Regarding claim 7, the pocket as taught in the combination above is on the inside surface of the strap and therefore it is concealed and facing a portion of the upper.
Claim(s) 11-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the references as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Official Notice and/or (US 2005/0167029 (Rapaport) and US 2021/0368941 (Chen)).
The examiner takes official notice that it is old and conventional in the art to provide padding/cushions as defined in claims 11-16.
Chen teaches cushion elements (e.g. 150) in article of footwear wherein the cushion/pads having different configurations including fluid filled chambers have different configurations including tensile strands (172) between barrier layers and first & second tensile sheets as claimed, wherein the first and second barrier elements are formed from at least one sheet of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU); at least see figure 5 and ¶0054; including blocks of foam disposed in the void between the layers (see the second to last sentence in ¶0062 “Additionally or alternatively, one or more pads 154a,154c may be formed of a resilient material, such as a foam material.”).
Rapapart teaches cushion elements (e.g. bladders 40,40a-40e,200) in article of footwear wherein the cushion/pads having different configurations including fluid filled chambers have different configurations including tensile strands (226) between barrier layers and first & second tensile sheets as claimed, wherein the first and second barrier elements are formed from at least one sheet of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU); at least see bladder 200 in figure 31a-31c and ¶0077; including blocks of foam disposed in the void between the layers (at least see bladders 40,40a-40e with tensile members (e.g. foam blocks 60,60a) in figures 2-11).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the article of footwear as taught by the combination above with cushioning including tensile elements being either of foam block or the tensile strands including the barrier elements made out of TPU, as defined in claims 11-16, in view of the official notice and/or (Chen and Rapapart), to provide improved cushioning characteristics.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The prior art cited and not relied upon by the Examiner for the above rejections are considered to be pertinent in that the references cited are considered to be the nearest prior art to the subject matter defined in the claims as required by MPEP707.05.
Applicant is duly reminded that a complete response must satisfy the requirements of 37 C.F. R. 1.111, including:
-“The reply must present arguments pointing out the specific distinctions believed to render the claims, including any newly presented claims, patentable over any applied references.”
--“A general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references does not comply with the requirements of this section.”
-Moreover, “The prompt development of a clear issue requires that the replies of the applicant meet the objections to and rejections of the claims. Applicant should also specifically point out the support for any amendments made to the disclosure. See MPEP 2163.06” MPEP 714.02. The “disclosure” includes the claims, the specification and the drawings.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TED KAVANAUGH whose telephone number is (571) 272-4556. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 8AM-6PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khoa Huynh can be reached on 57-1272-4888. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Ted Kavanaugh/
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3732
Tel: (571) 272-4556
Prosecution Insights