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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Comment to Election
Election of Group I (Figs. 1.1-1.7) was made in the reply filed on September 16, 2026. It is understood that the election was made without traverse. Group II-V (Figs. 2.1-6.7) are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner as being for the nonelected design and cancelled from the drawings and specification. See 37 CFR 1.142(b).
Examiner’s Comment
Applicant is advised that, effective July 20, 2026, foreign-domiciled applicants and patent owners must be represented by a registered patent practitioner. See 37 C.F.R. §§1.31(a)(2), 1.31(a)(3), and 1.33(b)(3); Required Use by Foreign Applicants and Patent Owners of a Patent Practitioner, 91 FR 13510 (Mar. 19, 2026), effective July 20, 2026.
The Office cannot aid in selecting a patent practitioner. A listing of registered patent practitioners is available at www.uspto.gov/FindPatentAttorney. Applicants may also obtain a list of registered patent practitioners located in their area by writing to
Mail Stop OED, Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
Foreign Priority (No Certified Document)
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority based on Kingdom of Norway application number NO20250226 filed on 02/24/2025. Because the Applicant bears the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the priority document is filed during pendency of the application and before the patent is issued, Applicant is encouraged to escalate the matter with the Patent Electronic Business Center (866-217-9197 or 571-272-4100).
In the case of a design application, the certified copy must be filed during the pendency of the application, unless filed with a petition under 37 CFR 1.55(g) together with the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(g), that includes a showing of good and sufficient cause for the delay in filing the certified copy of the foreign application. If the certified copy of the foreign application is filed after the date the issue fee is paid, the patent will not include the priority claim unless corrected by a certificate of correction under 35 U.S.C. 255 and 37 CFR 1.323.
Claim Rejection - 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) and (b)
The claim is refused 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 shapes and appearances of the highlighted portions, and their relationships with
the surrounding frames in the annotated reproductions 1.1 and 1.2 cannot be understood as disclosed.
From the side view, it is clear the highlighted portions are not open. What is not unclear is whether there is a continuous surface with a soft edge or a curved surface?
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834
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Or whether there are supposed to be hard edges shown in solid edge lines, as indicated by the broken lines in the annotated reproductions below?
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1004
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To overcome this part of the rejection, applicant should amend the drawings to help understand the shape and appearance of this feature.
Single view showing multiple surfaces
The claim is indefinite and non-enabling due to the disclosure of features visible in only one view. The exact 3-dimensional appearance of these features cannot be determined from the one view in which they are shown. It is unclear where and how these surfaces lie in relation to the adjacent surfaces. Showing an element only in one elevation view makes it impossible to distinguish the differences between the orientation and curvatures of planes, which may create a variety of different depths within the design. Furthermore, it is unknown whether they are surface ornamentation or recessed areas. If they are recessed, it is not known how far they are recessed.
The shapes and appearances of the highlighted portions, including the seven (7) trapezoid-shaped elements pointed out by arrows, are only shown in this view and cannot be understood or determined.
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Applicant may attempt to overcome this refusal by indicating that protection is not sought for the indefinite portions by amending the reproductions to color wash or convert said surfaces to broken lines, thus disclaiming those surfaces. See 37 CFR 1.1026 and Hague Administrative Instructions Section 403.
If applicant chooses to do so, the surface contour shading must be removed as well. Further, an appropriate statement must be added to the specification following the figure descriptions, but prior to the claim, to clearly describe the portions of the claim that form no part thereof. For example, if applicant converts the unclaimed portions to broken lines, the following statement would be acceptable:
-- The broken lines depict portions of the BENCH that form no part of the claim. --
Replacement Drawings
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. If all the figures on a drawing sheet are canceled, a replacement sheet is not required. A marked-up copy of the drawing 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 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).
Conclusion
The claim stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) and (b) as set forth above.
A reply to this Office Action is required to avoid abandonment of the application.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QIAWEN WIECHERT whose telephone number is 703-756-1727. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm.
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, Jennifer Rempfer can be reached on 571-270-0248. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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.
/Q.W.W./
Examiner, Art Unit 2932
/JENNIFER L REMPFER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2932
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