Patent and Trademark Office as a Patent Examiner of patents related to mechanica
ID: 339448 • Letter: P
Question
Patent and Trademark Office as a Patent Examiner of patents related to mechanical arts. ABC
Corp. (ABC) submits a patent application filed on January 1, 2018 that you are responsible for
reviewing. The ABC patent application is directed to a bookshelf, and the claim reads as follows:
Claim 1. A shelf for holding books comprising:
a horizontal base;
a vertical backing connected to the horizontal base; and
a plurality of boards mounted to the vertical backing, wherein the plurality of
boards comprises a first board and a second board,
wherein the first board is not parallel to the second board.
In your search for prior art, you find a bookshelf for sale on Amazon that was first listed for public
sale on November 17, 2014. The Amazon bookshelf looks as follows:
Assuming Amazon’s bookshelf is prior art to ABC’s patent application (it is based on the fact
pattern), discuss whether ABC’s claim 1 is novel in view of Amazon’s bookshelf. Provide your
reasoning and refer to features of ABC’s claim and the components of Amazon’s bookshelf shown
in the picture. Feel free to mark-up the above picture of Amazon’s bookshelf to help explain your
reasoning.
Explanation / Answer
The ABC's claim is not novel in view of Amazon's bookshelf. The Amazon bookshelf has the features of the said claim where the bookshelf has a horizontal board supported by a vertical backing connected to the horizontal base. Also, a distinguishing feature of the bookshelf is multiple boards which are explained to be as non-parallel to each other.
This unique design of having non-parallel first and second board is only possible by fixing them at a slant 45 degree angle as it was done in the Amazon's bookshelf.
Thus, this claim by ABC cannot be accepted .