Ex Parte Kawaguchi

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Apr 26, 2018

14291732 (P.T.A.B. Apr. 26, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
14/291,732 05/30/2014
32628 7590 04/30/2018
KANESAKA BERNER AND PARTNERS LLP
2318 Mill Road
Suite 1400
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22314-2848
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Gaku KAW A GU CHI
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www .uspto.gov
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
NIF-385A 6176
EXAMINER
TROY, ABIGAIL E
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3677
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
04/30/2018 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address( es):
office@uspatentagents.com
docketing@ipfirm.com
pair_lhhb@firsttofile.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte GAKU KAWAGUCHI
Appeal2017-006520
Application 14/291,732
Technology Center 3600
Before MICHAEL L. HOELTER, BENJAMIN D. M. WOOD, and
PAUL J. KORNICZKY, Administrative Patent Judges.
HOELTER, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL 1
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
This is a decision on appeal, under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), from the
Examiner's final rejection of 1, 2, 4---6, 8, 9, and 11. Final Act. 1 (Office
Action Summary). Claims 3 and 7 have been canceled. See Amendments
dated March 2, 2015 and September 10, 2015. Claim 10 has been allowed.
Final Act. 1. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.
1 The Appellant states NIFCO INC. is the real party in interest. App. Br. 1.
Appeal2017-006520
Application 14/291,732
THE CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER
The disclosed subject matter "relates to a buckle in which a male
member is connected removably to a female member." Spec. ,-r 1. Sole
independent claim 1 is illustrative of the claims on appeal and is reproduced
below.
1. A buckle, comprising:
a male member including a base part and a pair of
flexible arms extending from the base part, each arm having an
arm-latching part formed at a middle portion thereof and
convexed laterally outwardly therefrom, a front side raised part
protruding upwardly from a front surface thereof and a rear side
raised part protruding downwardly from a rear surface thereof,
and
a female member including an insertion hole formed at
one end portion thereof, guide grooves extending inside thereof
from the insertion hole, and guide faces arranged at the one end
portion to partially define the insertion hole, the pair of flexible
arms being inserted in the insertion hole,
wherein the pair of flexible arms has a width between the
arm-latching parts perpendicular to an insertion direction of the
pair of flexible arms, the width of the arm-latching parts being
larger than that of the insertion hole such that when the pair of
flexible arms is inserted in the insertion hole, the arm-latching
parts contact the guide faces, then the pair of arms is bent in a
direction approaching each other to increase an external force,
thereby the pair of flexible arms is provisionally fastened to the
female member, and after the arm-latching parts pass the guide
faces, the front and rear side raised parts are guided through the
guide grooves in the insertion direction, and the base part
contacts the one end portion when the male member engages
the female member.
REFERENCES RELIED ON BY THE EXAMINER
Matoba
Uehara
us 5,465,472
US 2009/0007391 Al
2
Nov. 14, 1995
Jan. 8,2009
Appeal2017-006520
Application 14/291,732
THE REJECTIONS ON APPEAL
Claims 1, 2, 4---6, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as
anticipated by Uehara.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over a
first embodiment of Uehara in view of a second embodiment of Uehara.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over
Uehara and Matoba.
ANALYSIS
Claim 1 is directed to a buckle having, on the male component, a pair
of arms (with arm-latching parts) that are inserted into an insertion hole
located in the female component. Claim 1 discusses the relative width
between the arm-latching parts and the insertion hole, but more importantly
recites, "when the pair of flexible arms is inserted in the insertion hole, the
arm-latching parts contact the guide faces" of the insertion hole. The
Examiner states, "during insertion, the outer portions of the arm latching
parts ... would inherently contact the guide faces." Ans. 2. Appellant, on
the other hand, contends that this recited feature is not disclosed in Uehara
because, during insertion, the widest part ofUehara's arms 20 do not contact
the guide faces (side walls) of the insertion hole. App. Br. 6; see also Reply
Br. 4.
To assist in this analysis, Figure 3 of Uehara is replicated below:
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Appeal2017-006520
Application 14/291,732
FIG.3
44 Jv
The above Figure 3 depicts the male and female components ofUehara's
buckle, and particularly legs 20 (i.e., "arms") and insertion port 41 (i.e.,
"insertion hole") that is bounded by side walls 40C.
Uehara teaches a tapered guide 50 that "elastically deforms each of
the distal ends ["engaging portion 30"] of the pair of the legs 20 in the
direction in which each of the distal ends come closer to each other."
Uehara i-f 61. In other words, during insertion, the tapering of guide 50
(along which engaging portion 30 slides) causes legs 20 to deflect inwardly
more and more as the male/female buckle components A/B move towards
each other. See Uehara i-f 66; Reply Br. 4. Such deformation moves legs 20
further away from side walls 40C of the insertion port. This is clearly
depicted in Figure 7 of Uehara, replicated below, which is an illustration of
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Appeal2017-006520
Application 14/291,732
"the male member ... in the middle of being inserted into the female
member." Uehara i-f 3 7.
13
''-
43-
FIG.7
,12
. -- -~--· 11.B 1t11
, -----------J ---- 1 lA ~ j .
i
44
-41
Figure 7 of Uehara depicts the inward deflection of legs 20 during insertion,
and particularly illustrates a gap between legs 20 and the side walls 40
forming insertion port 41.
In view of this inward deflection of legs 20 during insertion, the
Examiner's statement, "the outer portions of the arm latching parts ...
would inherently contact the guide faces" is not entirely clear or assured.
Ans. 2; see also id. at 5. Uehara is silent on this point (see Reply Br. 4) and
we are instructed that when a reference is silent about an asserted inherent
characteristic, it must be clear that the missing descriptive matter is
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Appeal2017-006520
Application 14/291,732
necessarily present in the reference. Continental Can Co. v. Monsanto Co.,
948 F.2d 1264, 1268 (Fed. Cir. 1991). As indicated above, it is not clear that
contact between the arm-latching parts (Uehara's legs 20) and the guide face
(Uehara's side walls 40C) during insertion is necessarily present in Uehara.
Accordingly, and based on the record presented, we conclude that the
Examiner has not established by a preponderance of the evidence that
Uehara discloses the recited contact during insertion, and as such, Uehara
does not anticipate the limitations of claim 1. We do not sustain the
Examiner's anticipation rejection of independent claim 1 or dependent
claims 2, 4---6, and 8.
Regarding the obviousness rejections of dependent claims 9 and 11,
the additional teachings of the cited art relied upon by the Examiner are not
employed to cure the above defect of claim 1. We, likewise, do not sustain
the Examiner's obviousness rejection of claims 9 and 11.
DECISION
The Examiner's rejections of claims 1, 2, 4---6, 8, 9, and 11 are
reversed.
REVERSED
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