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 .
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ELECTION AND AMENDMENT
Election of Group 1 (embodiment 1, figure 1) was made without traverse per response dated December 17, 2025.
Groups 2-5 (embodiments 2-5; figures 2-5) are withdrawn from further consideration by the Applicant, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being for a non-elected design.
Further, acknowledgement is here made of applicant’s amendment December 17, 2025, including amendments to the specification and reproductions. The merits of the application have been reconsidered in view of Applicants’ remarks and amendments received December 17, 2025.
OBJECTION TO THE REPRODUCTIONS
The reproduction disclosure is objected to because it doesn’t meet the requirements 35 USC 132 as follows:
Replacement reproduction 1 shows two sets of broken lines. While the placement of the dot-dash broken lines, which are directly adjacent the claim and described as depicting the bounds of the claim, has basis in the original disclosure; the evenly spaced broken lines, which are further beyond the boundary of the claimed and are described as depicting portions of the decorative textile that form no part of the claimed design, do not. No environment nor portions of the article beyond the edge of the pattern were disclosed in the original disclosure. Therefore, the evenly spaced broken lines form new matter; further, since these lines are understood to form no part of the claim, they are objectionable new matter. As such the evenly spaced broken lines should be removed from Reproduction 1. Please see the annotated reproduction below. Lastly, if the evenly spaced broken lines are removed, then reference to them should be removed from the specification.
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A new, formal, and mutually consistent reproductions with sharp and well defined lines, wherein the noted objections have been corrected, is now required.
Corrected drawing sheets 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 reproductions for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. If all the figures on a drawing sheet are canceled, a replacement sheet is not required. A marked-up copy of the reproduction sheet (labeled as “Annotated Sheet”) including an annotation showing that all the figures on that drawing sheet have been canceled must be presented in the amendment or remarks section that explains the change to the drawings. 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.
When preparing new reproductions in compliance with the requirement therefor, care must be exercised to avoid introduction of anything which could be construed to be new matter, the same being prohibited by 35 U.S.C. 132 and 37 CFR 1.121.
Any amended replacement reproduction 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 reproduction 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.
CLAIM REJECTION UNDER 35 USC 112(a) & (b)
The claim is rejected under 35 USC 112(a) and (b), 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 regards as the invention.
The claim is indefinite and nonenabling for the reasons as follows:
Reproduction 1 shows long-dash short-dash broken lines directly adjacent the claimed appearance, which have been described as “depict[ing] the bounds of the claimed design”. While we understand from this statement that these lines depict the bounds of the claimed design, it is unclear if the appearance of these lines do or do not form part of the claim. Please note that if their appearance does form part of the claimed design then the appearance of the claim may not meet the standards of 35 USC 132 and may be rejectable under 35 USC 112(a). As such the exact appearance of the claim cannot be concluded without conjecture.
Due to these ambiguities in the disclosure, the scope of protection sought by the claim cannot be determined and therefore the claim fails to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter that the inventor regards as the invention and enable a designer of ordinary skill to reproduce the shape and appearance of the claimed design.
To resolve the rejection, without presenting ground for other rejections, the applicant may want to consider:
Amending the description of the long-dash short-dash broken lines similar to the following:
-- The long-dash short-dash broken lines depict the boundary of the claim and form no part thereof. --
If applicant chooses to amend the reproduction and/or specification, the amendment must meet the written description requirement of 35 U.S.C. 112(a). It must be apparent that applicant was in possession of the amended design at the time of original filing. A response is required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. If corrected drawings are submitted in response to the Office action, they must be in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d).
CONCLUSION
Accordingly, the claim stands objected to and rejected under 35 USC 112(a) & (b), as set forth above. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure.
Applicant is reminded that any reply to this communication must be signed either by a patent practitioner (i.e., a patent attorney or agent registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office) or by the applicant. If the applicant is a juristic entity, the reply must be signed by a patent practitioner. See 37 CFR 1.33(b).
A response is required in reply to the office action to avoid abandonment of the application.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Joseph Seddon whose telephone number is (703) 756-1141. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 8:30am-5pm ET.
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 trainer, Garth Rademaker can be reached at (303) 297-4274, or the examiner's supervisor, Wendy Arminio can be reached at 571-270-0221. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
All discussions between the applicant and the examiner regarding the merits of a pending application will be considered an interview and are to be made of record. See MPEP § 713. The examiner will not discuss the merits of the application with applicant's representative if the representative is not registered to practice before the USPTO. Appointment as applicant's representative before the International Bureau pursuant to Rule 3 of the Common Regulations under the Hague Agreement does NOT entitle such representative to represent the applicant before the USPTO. Furthermore, an applicant that is a juristic entity must be represented by a patent attorney or agent registered to practice before the USPTO. Additional information regarding interviews is set forth below.
A telephonic or in person interview may only be conducted with an attorney or agent registered to practice before the USPTO ("registered practitioner") or with a pro se applicant (an applicant who is the inventor and who is not represented by a registered practitioner).
The registered practitioner may either be of record or not of record. To become "of record," a power of attorney (POA) in accordance with 37 CFR 1.32 must be filed in the application. Form PTO/AIA /80 "Power of Attorney to Prosecute Applications Before the USPTO," available at www.uspto.gov/ patent/forms/forms-patent-applications-filed-or-after-september-16-2012, may be used for this purpose. See MPEP § 402.02(a) for further information. Interviews may also be conducted with a registered practitioner not of record provided the registered practitioner can show authorization to conduct an interview by completing, signing and filing an "Applicant Initiated Interview Request Form" (PTOL-413A) (available at the USPTO web page indicated above). See MPEP § 405. For acceptable ways to submit forms to the USPTO, see "When Responding to Official USPTO Correspondence" below. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/J.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2935
/Garth Rademaker/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2922