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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 2/26/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-13, and 21-24 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's argument filed 2/26/2026, regarding the 35 USC 103 rejections of claims 1-13, and 21-24 have been fully considered is persuasive for these reasons:
Regarding Applicant’s assertion that there is no evidence that Ebags was available as a printed publication, in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention and the NPL provided does not show the 2010 date (Pages 8-9), the examiner agrees that the NPL attached 4/17/2025 does not clearly show the date that it was available to the publication and has attached the NPL for the reference again, this time showing an updated 2020 upload date. Below is a screen shot of the YouTube printed publication of Ebags. Due to this issue, the examiner is issuing a 2nd Non-Final Action.
Applicant’s arguments regarding the 35 USC 103 rejection of claims 1-13, and 21-24, have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the references being used in the current rejection. Note discussion of 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkXNf3_aAq4 by Ebags, below.
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-10, 12-13, 21-22 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkXNf3_aAq4 by Ebags (Here forth “Ebags”) in view of US Patent 2288105 by Plotkin (Here forth “Plotkin”), US Publication 2020/0178660 by Bauer (Here forth “Bauer”) and International Patent CN209905419 by Miao (Here forth “Miao”).
Regarding claim 1, Ebags a soft-sided container comprising:
a soft-sided containment envelope having a first member, a second member, and a peripheral sidewall extending between the first member and the second member (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the container is an envelope and has a first and second member with a peripheral side wall therebetween);
said first member defining a top wall of said soft-sided containment envelope (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags), said top wall defining a lid thereof Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, top wall defined by first member); said second member defining a bottom wall of said soft-sided containment envelope (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags);
said first member, second member and peripheral sidewall co-operating to define an internal chamber into which to introduce objects (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags; container having a first position and a second position, said second position being an extended position in which said bottom and said lid are spaced apart, and said first position being a proximate position in which said bottom and said lid are drawn toward each other in an axial direction, wherein said peripheral sidewall is axially collapsible in said axial direction as the container is soft);
said peripheral wall has an upper margin and a lower margin (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, inherently, the peripheral wall has an upper margin at the top edge portion and a lower margin at the bottom edge portion);
said upper margin defines a periphery of said chamber (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, The upper margin of the periphery that is a part of the periphery wall defines a portion of the periphery of the chamber within the container);
an opening of said chamber being defined by said upper margin of said peripheral wall (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the opening of the chamber comes in contact with a portion of the periphery wall upper margin, therefore, the opening of the chamber on 3 sides is defined by the upper margin);
said soft-sided containment envelope (Fig A) [Not taught: including a spreader, said spreader causing said peripheral sidewall to hold its plan form shape;
said spreader is a reinforcement rod sewn into said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall, and said reinforcement rod extends in said upper margin about said periphery around said opening of said chamber];
said lid defined by said top wall being moveable able between a closed position and an open position to govern access to said chamber (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the top lid is capable of being opened and closed);
[Not taught: a first hanger and a second hanger, said first hanger and said second hanger being mounted] to said soft-sided containment envelope (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags);
[Not taught: said first and second hangers being opposed on opposite sides of said chamber; and said first and second hangers being movable between respective stored and deployed positions relative to said soft-sided containment envelope;
in said respective deployed positions said first and second hangers being co-operable to suspend said soft-sided containment envelope in a hanging position];
said soft-sided container has a compressor (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the tracked fastener is a form of compressor);
subsequent to said lid being closed, said compressor is operable to draw said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall toward said lower margin of said peripheral sidewall , thereby to move said soft-sided container between a first position and a second position, said first position being an expanded position in which said chamber is closed and said bottom and said lid are spaced apart, and said second position being a contracted position in which said lid is closed and said bottom and said lid are drawn toward each other (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the container has flexible walls and can be in an expanded position and contracted position while the lid is closed); and
said soft-sided-containment envelope having at least a first anchor point and a second anchor point at which removably to mount corresponding first and second hangers of a second such soft-sided container to form a cascade of said soft-sided containers].
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Fig A- Examiner Annotated of Ebags at timestamp 3:24s
Ebags does not expressly disclose a spreader that is a reinforcement rod.
Plotkin discloses a similar soft sided container that teaches, wherein including a spreader (Fig 2 of Plotkin, reinforcement rod 18 is a spreader), said spreader causing said peripheral sidewall to hold its plan form shape (Fig 2 of Plotkin, reinforcement rod 18 is a spreader that is placed in the peripheral of the sidewalls to hold the shape of the ends of the container); said spreader is a reinforcement rod sewn into said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall (Fig 2 of Plotkin, reinforcement rod 18 are sewn into the upper margin of the peripheral sidewall), and said reinforcement rod extends in said upper margin about said periphery around said opening of said chamber (Fig 2 of Plotkin, reinforcement rod 18 extends in upper margin of the sidewalls around the opening secured closed by zipper track 24).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags and Plotkin before them, when the application was filed, to have modified the container portion to include reinforcement rods about the upper margin of the peripheral walls around the opening, as taught by Plotkin, to advantageously provide rigidity near the opening of the container to provide strength to the edges when the bag is opened and closed.
Ebags as modified does not expressly disclose first and second hangers.
Bauer discloses a similar soft sided container that teaches, wherein with a first hanger and a second hanger (Fig 5 of Bauer, hangers 61, hangers 61 include a splayed connection to said peripheral sidewall; Fig 5, the hangers are mounted to the short sides of the peripheral sidewall; first and second hangers include a splayed connection to said peripheral sidewall; Fig 5 of Bauer, the second soft-sided container being nestable within the first soft-sided container; first and second hangers are mounted within said peripheral wall as they are located within attachments that are part of the wall), said first hanger and said second hanger being mounted to said soft-sided containment aid first and second hangers being opposed on opposite sides of said chamber (Fig 5 of Bauer); and said first and second hangers being movable between respective stored and deployed positions relative to said soft-sided containment envelope (Fig 4-5 of Bauer, the stored position is when the hangers are not attached to a rod or another container and the deployed position is when the hangers are attached to a rod or another container relative to soft sided containment envelope; when said hangers are in said stored position they are enclosed within said envelope); in said respective deployed positions said first and second hangers being co-operable to suspend said soft-sided containment envelope in a hanging position (Fig 5 of Bauer);
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags as modified and Bauer before them, when the application was filed, to have modified the container of the modified Ebags to attach hangers, as taught by Bauer, to advantageously be able to hang up the container when user need to access and organize items easily.
Ebags as modified does not expressly disclose anchor points.
Miao discloses a similar soft sided container that teaches, wherein said soft-sided-containment envelope having at least a first anchor point and a second anchor point at which removably to mount corresponding first and second hangers of a second such soft-sided container to form a cascade of said soft-sided containers (Fig 1 and 6 of Miao, the bottom of strip 2 contains an anchor point through which the cascading containers can attach on).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags as modified and Miao before them, when the application was filed, to have modified the container portion of the modified Ebags to have first and second hangers and spreaders, as taught by Miao, to advantageously stack containers for easy organization while traveling.
Regarding claim 6, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including wherein at least a respective one of said first and second hangers include a respective splayed connection to said peripheral sidewall that divides the hanging load of said respective into distributed portions transmitted to said container (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1; Fig 4 of Bauer, the hangers 61 and 62 can be seen in a splayed connection to the peripheral sidewall; the hangers inherently divide the load when the hangers are in the hanging position).
Regarding claim 7, Ebags includes all of the limitations including all of the limitations including combined as a set, the second soft-sided container being hangable from the first soft-sided container (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1; Fig 6-7 of Miao, the second container can be seen hangable from the first).
Regarding claim 8, Ebags includes all of the limitations including all of the limitations including combined as a set, the second soft-sided container being nestable within the first soft-sided container (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1; Fig 5-6 of Miao, the second container has hangers 3 that are nested within the first container).
Regarding claim 21, Ebags discloses a soft-sided container comprising:
a soft-sided containment envelope having a first member, a second member, and a peripheral sidewall extending between the first member and the second member (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the container is an envelope and has a first and second member with a peripheral side wall therebetween);
said first member defining a top wall of said soft-sided containment envelope, said top wall defining a lid thereof (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, top wall defined by first member);
said second member defining a bottom wall of said soft-sided containment envelope (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags);
said first member, second member and peripheral sidewall co-operating to define an internal chamber into which to introduce objects (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, first, second members and peripheral sidewall define an internal chamber);
said peripheral wall has an upper margin and a lower margin (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, inherently, the peripheral wall has an upper margin at the top edge portion and a lower margin at the bottom edge portion);
said peripheral sidewall defines a periphery of said chamber (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, The upper margin of the periphery that is a part of the periphery wall defines a portion of the periphery of the chamber within the container);
an opening of said chamber being defined by said upper margin of said peripheral wall (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the opening of the chamber comes in contact with a portion of the periphery wall upper margin, therefore, the opening of the chamber on 3 sides is defined by the upper margin);
said soft-sided containment envelope (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags) [Not taught: including a spreader, said spreader causing said peripheral sidewall to hold its plan form shape];
said lid defined by said top wall being movable between a closed position and an open position to govern access to said chamber (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the top lid is capable of being opened and closed);
[Not taught: a first suspender and a second suspender;
each of said first suspender and said second suspender including a first hook and a first linking member;
said linking member being one of (a) a flap in which said flap has said first hook mounted at a narrowed altitude thereof and a wider base sewn to said peripheral sidewall; and (b) a strap having two ends, said first hook being mounted to said strap and said two ends of said strap being mounted to said peripheral sidewall inside said chamber;
said first and second suspenders being opposed on opposite sides of said chamber; and said first and second suspenders being movable between respective stored and deployed positions relative to said chamber;
in said respective deployed positions said first and second suspenders being co-operable to support said soft-sided containment envelope in a hanging position;
in said respective stored positions said suspenders being located withing said chamber defined by said envelope; and
said soft-sided-containment envelope having at least a first anchor point and a second anchor point at which removably to mount corresponding first and second hangers of a second such soft- sided container to form a cascade of said soft-sided containers].
Ebags does not expressly disclose a spreader.
Plotkin discloses a similar soft sided container that teaches, wherein including a spreader (Fig 2 of Plotkin, reinforcement rod 18 is a spreader), said spreader causing said peripheral sidewall to hold its plan form shape (Fig 2 of Plotkin, reinforcement rod 18 is a spreader that is placed in the peripheral of the sidewalls to hold the shape of the ends of the container; spreader is a stiffener mounted to said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall; stiffener mounted to said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall includes a reinforcement rod extending about said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags and Plotkin before them, when the application was filed, to have modified the container portion to include spreaders about the upper margin of the peripheral walls around the opening, as taught by Plotkin, to advantageously provide rigidity near the opening of the container to provide strength to the edges when the bag is opened and closed.
Ebags as modified does not expressly disclose suspenders, hooks, linking member, a strap.
Bauer discloses a similar soft-sided containment that teaches, wherein a first suspender and a second suspender (Fig 2 and 5 of Bauer, Suspenders are include hooks 61 and 62 and portion that attaches to container as shown);
each of said first suspender and said second suspender including a first hook and a first linking member (Fig 2 and 5 of Bauer, the suspenders include hooks 61 and 62 and linking member is the portion of the suspender attaching the hook to the linking member);
said linking member being one of (a) a flap in which said flap has said first hook mounted at a narrowed altitude thereof and a wider base sewn to said peripheral sidewall (as seen in Fig 2, 4-5 of Bauer, the linking member can be a flap as it can be moved up and down, the hook is 61 is mounted to a narrow altitude of the linkage member and the two ends of the linkage are attached to container such that the wide portion is against the sidewall); and (b) a strap having two ends, said first hook being mounted to said strap and said two ends of said strap being mounted to said peripheral sidewall inside said chamber (Fig 3 of Bauer; said first and second hangers are mounted to said first and second short sides of said peripheral sidewall, linkages of said respective first and second suspenders are mounted to said peripheral wall within said chamber at spaced apart locations; wherein said suspenders include said respective straps and each said strap has said first hook and a second hook mounted thereto);
said first and second suspenders being opposed on opposite sides of said chamber; and said first and second suspenders being movable between respective stored and deployed positions relative to said chamber (Fig 2-3 of Bauer);
in said respective deployed positions said first and second suspenders being co-operable to support said soft-sided containment envelope in a hanging position (Fig 3 of Bauer, first and second hangers include a splayed connection to said peripheral sidewall);
in said respective stored positions said suspenders being located withing said chamber defined by said envelope (Fig 2 of Bauer).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags as modified and Bauer before them, when the application was filed, to have modified the container of the modified Ebags to attach suspenders, as taught by Bauer, to advantageously be able to hang up the container when user need to access and organize items easily.
Ebags as modified does not expressly disclose a linkage member sewn to the container.
It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to a person of ordinary skill in the art to teach the linkage is sewn to the container instead of attached the way Bauer attaches the linkage to the container, because Applicant has not disclosed why the attachment method provide an advantage, are used for a particular purpose, or solve a stated problem. One of ordinary skill in the art, furthermore, would have expected Applicant’s invention to perform equally well with Ebags’ modified container (details above) because they both would have the same reconfigurability, and operability. Therefore, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify Ebags’ modified container (details above) to obtain the invention as claimed.
Ebags as modified does not expressly disclose anchor points.
Miao discloses a similar soft sided container that teaches, wherein said soft-sided-containment envelope having at least a first anchor point and a second anchor point at which removably to mount corresponding first and second hangers of a second such soft- sided container to form a cascade of said soft-sided containers (Fig 1 and 6 of Miao, the bottom of strip 2 contains an anchor point through which the cascading containers can attach on).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags as modified and Miao before them, when the application was filed, to have modified the container portion of the modified Ebags to have first and second hangers and spreaders, as taught by Miao, to advantageously stack containers for easy organization while traveling.
Regarding claims 2, Ebags includes all of the limitations including wherein said spreader is a stiffener mounted to said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of claim 21; Fig 2 of Plotkin, spreader 18 are stiffeners to upper margin of peripheral sidewall).
Regarding claim 3, Ebags as modified includes all the limitations including wherein said stiffener mounted to said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall is a frame mounted inside said sidewall and extending about said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 21; Fig 2 of Plotkin spreader/stiffener 18 are spreaders/stiffeners frame mounted to upper margin).
Regarding claim 4, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including, wherein said stiffener mounted to said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall includes a reinforcement rod extending about said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 21, Fig 2 of Plotkin, the stiffener is a reinforcement rod extending about the upper margin of the peripheral sidewall ).
Regarding claim 5, Ebags as modified includes all of the Limitations including wherein said container is rectangular in plan view; (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the container is rectangular in shape) said peripheral sidewall has a pair of first and second long sides and a pair of first and second short sides corresponding to said rectangular container in plan view (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the container is rectangular shaped); said first and second hangers are mounted to said first and second short sides of said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 21; Bauer Fig 2-5, there are short and long peripheral walls as shown).
Regarding claim 9, Ebags further discloses wherein said container is movable between a first mode and a second mode, said first mode being an expanded mode and said second mode being a contracted mode (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the walls are flexible so the container can move from a contracted more to an expanded mode when the peripheral sidewalls are contracted or expanded).
Regarding claim 10, Ebags further discloses wherein said container having a first position and a second position, said second position being an extended position in which said bottom and said lid are spaced apart in an axial direction, and said first position being a proximate position in which said bottom and said lid are drawn toward each other in an axial direction in said axial direction (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the walls are flexible so the container can move from a contracted more to an expanded mode when the peripheral sidewalls are contracted or expanded from a first position to a second position; lid is spaced in the axial direction and drawn toward each other in the axial direction when closing the lid).
Regarding claim 12, Ebags further discloses wherein said tracked fastener is movable from a first position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially fore-shortened, to a second position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially expanded (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the walls are flexible so the container can move from a first position to a second position; flexible peripheral side wall can be axially expanded).
Regarding claim 13, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including wherein at least one of:
(a) said peripheral sidewall has an upper margin and a lower margin (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the upper portion of the side wall is the upper margin and the lower side is the lower margin), and said spreader is a stiffener mounted to said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 21; Plotkin, Fig 2); and said spreader includes a reinforcement rod extending about said periphery (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 21; Plotkin, Fig 2);
(b) said container is rectangular in plan view (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags); said peripheral side wall has a pair of first and second long sides and a pair of first and second short sides (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags) corresponding to said rectangular container in plan view (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags); and said first and second hangers are mounted to said first and second short sides of said peripheral sidewall (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags);
(c) at least one of said first and second hangers include a splayed connection to said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 21; Bauer fig 2-5); and
(d) said container is movable between a first mode and a second mode, said first mode being an expanded mode and said second mode being a contracted mode (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, second mode is when the container is closed and contracted and first mode is when it is opened and expanded); said peripheral sidewall is axially collapsible (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the soft container is collapsible about an imaginary vertical axis about the bending portion of the back peripheral wall); said peripheral sidewall has a tracked fastener that extends peripherally about said sidewall; and that is movable from a first position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially fore-shortened, to a second position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially expanded (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, tracked fastener is movable from a first position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially fore-shortened when zipper, to a second position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially expanded when unzipped).
Regarding claim 22, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including wherein when said hangers are in said stored position, they are enclosed within said envelope (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1, Fig 2-5 of Bauer).
Additionally, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide wherein the hangers are mounted within the peripheral walls. See MPEP 2144.04(VI)(C). Examiner notes Applicant has not disclosed why this location provides an advantage, are used for a particular purpose, or solve a stated problem. One of ordinary skill in the art, furthermore, would have expected Applicant’s invention to perform equally well with Ebags’ modified container (details above) because they both would have the same reconfigurability, and operability. Therefore, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify Ebags’ modified container (details above) to obtain the invention as claimed.
Regarding claim 24, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including disclosing a similar container that teaches wherein each of said linkage members has a first end defining a first leg and a second end defining a second leg, and said legs of said respective first and second suspenders are mounted to said peripheral wall within said chamber at spaced apart locations (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 21; Fig B – Examiner Annotated Fig 3 of Bauer below, the linkage of the suspenders are mounted to peripheral wall within chamber. The first leg is the linkage member portion that is attached to the first suspender and the second leg is the linkage member portion that is attached to the second suspender the legs are part of the ends of each linkage member).
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Fig B – Examiner Annotated Fig 3 of Bauer
Additionally, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide wherein the hangers are mounted within the peripheral walls. See MPEP 2144.04(VI)(C). Examiner notes Applicant has not disclosed why this location provides an advantage, are used for a particular purpose, or solve a stated problem. One of ordinary skill in the art, furthermore, would have expected Applicant’s invention to perform equally well with Ebags’ modified container (details above) because they both would have the same reconfigurability, and operability. Therefore, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify Ebags’ modified container (details above) to obtain the invention as claimed.
Claims 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ebags, Plotkin, Bauer, Miao and Kranemann view of US Patent 4773515 issued to Kotkins (Here forth “Kotkins”).
Regarding claim 11, Ebags further discloses said container having a first position and a second position, said second position being an extended position in which said bottom and said lid are spaced apart, and said first position being a proximate position in which said bottom and said lid are drawn toward each other in an axial direction (Fig A- Examiner Annotated Fig Timestamp 3:24s of Ebags, the walls are flexible so the container can move from a contracted more to an expanded mode when the peripheral sidewalls are contracted or expanded from a first position to a second position; lid is spaced in the axial direction and drawn toward each other in the axial direction when closing the lid), [Not taught: said peripheral sidewall of said soft-sided container having a compressor; wherein said compressor of said peripheral sidewall has a tracked fastener, said tracked fastener extends peripherally about said sidewall].
Ebags as modified does not expressly disclose a compressor
Kotkins disclose a similar soft sided container that teaches, wherein said peripheral sidewall of said soft-sided container having a compressor; wherein said compressor of said peripheral sidewall has a tracked fastener, said tracked fastener extends peripherally about said sidewall (Fig C- Examiner Annotated Fig 2 of Kotkins).
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Fig C- Examiner Annotated Fig 2 of Kotkins
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags as modified and Kotkins before them, when the application was filed, to have modified the container portion of the modified Ebags to include a compressor, as taught by Kotkins, to advantageously compress the container so it occupies less space.
Claims 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ebags, Plotkin, Bauer and Miao in view of International Publication DE202015007681 by Kranemann (Here forth “Kranemann”).
Regarding claim 23, Ebags as modified does not expressly disclose multiple hooks on one strap
Kranemann discloses a similar soft-sided container that teaches, wherein said suspenders include said respective straps and each said strap has said first hook and a second hook mounted thereto (Fig 3 of Kranemann, hooks 7a and 11 on strap 9).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags as modified and Kranemann before them, when the application was filed, to have modified the hanging suspension portion of the modified Ebags to include an additional hook to each strap, as taught by Miao, to advantageously provide more supporting devices to hold additional items.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSICA KAVINI TAMIL whose telephone number is (571)272-6655. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00am-5:00pm EST.
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/JESSICA KAVINI TAMIL/Examiner, Art Unit 3733
/NATHAN J JENNESS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3733 17 April 2026
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