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 .
NON-FINAL REJECTION (REFUSAL)
Specification Objection
The specification is objected to under 37 CFR 1.1067 for failing to provide figure descriptions. The description should indicate the type of view shown in the corresponding figure, such as "front view," "perspective view," "top view," etc. The descriptions of the figures are not required to be written in any particular format; however, they must describe the views of the reproductions clearly and accurately. See Hague Rule 7(5)(a), 37 CFR 1.1024, and MPEP 2920.04(a)(II). For this reason, the specification must be amended to include independent figure descriptions following the indication of Design No./Product(s).
Claim Rejection - 35 U.S.C. 112(a) and (b)
The claim is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) and (b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first and second paragraphs, as the claimed invention is not described in such full, clear, concise and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the same, and fails 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.
The claim is indefinite and nonenabling for the following reasons:
A. The scope and appearance of the claimed design is difficult to understand and cannot be clearly enabled by the examiner, since the quality of the drawings are poorly executed. There are numerous unclear elements among the drawing views, with jagged, merging and blurry lines combined with the overall poor image quality (including pixelated reproductions with bleeding contours and lines, and the resulting unclear or indiscernible details).
The drawings are of an inadequate quality to show the distinguishing features of the claimed design clearly. The intricacies of the claimed design and overall contouring cannot be fully understood due to the pixilation, lightweight lines, and merging elements of the drawing figures. For these reasons, it is unclear what the exact appearance of the claim is supposed to be, without the use of conjecture by the examiner leading to numerous interpretations. The Examiner recommends amending the figures to render them with less pixilation and increased clarity of disclosure. (See the illustration below)
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Annotated portion of 1.2, indicating the poor line quality
B. The appearance of the central elements depicted in the drawing views of 1.5 and 1.7 are unclear and cannot be clearly enabled by the examiner. Without additional views showing the rear side of the claimed design, it is unclear what the exact appearance of these indicated elements are supposed to be, without the use of conjecture by the examiner leading to numerous interpretations. (See the illustrations below)
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Annotated portions of 1.5 and 1.7, indicating the non-enabled central elements
Applicant is advised that all of the preceding issues should be addressed to overcome this rejection,without the introduction of anything that was not shown in the original disclosure (i.e., new matter), eitherby the addition or removal of features of the claimed design.
If applicant chooses to exclude portions of the design from the claim by converting those portions of the article to broken lines, the amendment must meet the written description requirement of 35 USC 112(a). It must be apparent that applicant was in possession of the amended design at the time of original filing. When preparing new or replacement drawings, be careful to avoid introducing new matter. New matter is prohibited by 35 U.S.C. 132 and 37 CFR 1.121(f).
New matter is anything (structure, features, elements) which was not apparent (seen) in the drawings asoriginally filed. It is possible for new matter to consist of the removal as well as the addition of structure,features or elements. Further, the clarification of drawings with poor line quality can introduce new matter.
Conclusion
The claim stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) and (b).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLESE MOORE JR whose telephone number is (571)270-0222. The examiner can normally be reached between 9:30am - 6pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s Supervisor, Holly Thurman can be reached at (571) 272-8068. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CMJ/
August 7, 2025
/MICHELLE E. WILSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2926