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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/22/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-16 and 18-20 have been amended
Claims 1-16 and 18-20 are presented for examination
This action is Non-Final
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tom (WO 2014/082026) in view of Schutz (US 6,454,113) in view of Majmundar (US 2014/0084016) in view of Matsuoka (US 2015/0028028).
Claim 1: Tom discloses a transport and storage container 1 for liquids wherein Tom teaches a blow-molded inner sleeve (10) a bottom wall (112) connecting two side walls (102, 104), a rear wall (106) and a front wall (108) of the inner container and serving to support the inner container on the pallet floor of the transport pallet (402),
each have horizontal fold lines (14), the horizontal fold lines being disposed in a shared central horizontal plane, ([0101; fig. 4B).
Tom fails to disclose the inner container for use in connection with a transport sleeve. Schutz discloses a transport and storage container 1 for liquids for use in connection with a transport pallet (12) provided with an outer jacket (9), comprising:
a foldable inner container (2) made of plastic material, having characteristics to be foldable against forces (filling and un-filling process) of the inner container for transporting and storing liquids (col. 3, ll. 21-35), the inner container (2) having an outlet socket (7) for connecting an outlet fitting on a front side (fig. 1) and a top wall (linear surface @3; fig. 1) located opposite the bottom wall (parallel surface) and provided with a filling opening (5), wherein the outer jacket provides for stackability of the transport and storage container (col. 2, ll. 26-40), the two side walls, the foldable inner container adapted to be arranged in a stack of folded inner containers within the outer jacket of the transport pallet (fig. 8).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inner sleeve of Tom to include the cage with pallet transport of Schutz to better protect and easily transport the inner sleeve in the used or unused configuration.
Tom-Schutz discloses a collapsible container enclosed in an outer sleeve but fails to disclose straps that are used to maintain the collapsed position of the inner container. Majmundar teaches a foldable container (10) for transporting and storing liquids, the inner container having elastic characteristics to be foldable against elastic restoring forces wherein, when the container is compressed to a folded size, the folded size is maintained against the elastic restoring forces by securing the container with belts 30 [0012]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the container of Tom-Schultz to include the straps of Majmundar to enable the collapsed position of the container to be maintained.
It is further noted that the foldable container of Tom discloses fold lines to assist in the collapsed configuration of the container but fails to disclose the use of corrugated lines. Matsuoka teaches corrugated lines assisting in the collapsed configuration of the container [0006]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the fold lines of Tom to include the corrugations of Matsuoka (in conjunction with fold lines) to offer more closure options of the foldable container.
Claims 2-3: Tom-Schutz-Majmundar-Matsuoka discloses he transport and storage container according to claim 1, wherein the front wall (102) has two diagonal corrugations (201, 206) below a horizontal wall axis (@205) of the front wall (102), the horizontal wall axis being disposed in a shared horizontal plane with the horizontal corrugations (202, 205), the diagonal corrugations (201, 206) extending between a lower container edge (55) and the wall axis (52) and approaching each other (Tom; [0008]; fig. 1).
Claim 4: Tom-Schutz-Majmundar-Matsuoka discloses the transport container according to claim 3, wherein the front wall (102) and the rear wall (104) each have two diagonal corrugations (203, 204) above the wall axes of the front wall (102) and the rear wall (104), the wall axes being disposed in a shared horizontal plane with the horizontal corrugations (202, 205), the diagonal corrugations (203, 204) capable of extending from the upper container edge to the horizontal wall axis (52) and approaching each other (Tom; fig. 1, 3F).
Claim 5: Tom-Schutz-Majmundar-Matsuoka discloses the transport container according to claim 2, wherein the diagonal fold lines (Matsuoka; [0006]) on the front wall and the rear wall each run parallel to a surface diagonal (Tom; fig. 1).
Claim(s) 6-11 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tom (WO 2014/082026) in view of Schutz (US 6,454,113) in view of Majmundar (US 2014/0084016) in view of Matsuoka (US 2015/0028028) in view of Grey (GB 2367054).
Claims 6-9: Tom-Schutz-Majmundar-Matsuoka discloses the transport and storage container according to claim 2, where Tom teaches fold lines (Matsuoka; [0006]) extending towards a longitudinal edge [0062] but fails to disclose a shared lateral and longitudinal edge. Grey teaches diagonal corrugations wherein each two diagonal corrugations (15, 16) coming from a shared lateral container edge (13, 14) form a pair of corrugations (17) and have longitudinal axes forming an isosceles triangle with the container edge (fig. 3). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the corrugation edges of Schutz -Tom to extend to the edge of the container as taught by Grey to improve the stability and reinforcement in the erected position.
Claims 10-11: Tom-Schutz-Majmundar-Matsuoka discloses the transport and storage container according to claim 2, but fails to disclose the corrugations extending from the lateral container. Grey teaches the corrugations wherein distal corrugation ends of the diagonal fold lines extend into the lateral container edge (fig. 3). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the corrugation edges of Schutz -Tom to extend to the edge of the container as taught by Grey to improve the stability and reinforcement in the erected position. Claims 12-13: Tom-Schutz discloses the transport and storage container according to claim 2, but fails to disclose the corrugations extending from the lateral container. Grey teaches wherein the diagonal corrugations have a corrugation bottom (18) continuously rising toward a wall surface (11) at their proximal corrugation ends (pg. 4, para. 2).
Claims 14-15: Tom-Schutz-Majmundar-Matsuoka-Grey discloses the transport and storage container according to claim 13, wherein the horizontal fold lines have a concave corrugation bottom which has an enlarged profile radius for forming corrugation (18) widenings at the corrugation ends (Grey; fig. 8B).
Claim 16: Tom-Schutz-Matsuoka-Grey discloses the transport and storage container according to claim 14, wherein at least a horizontal fold line (205) is formed in the front wall (102) and the rear wall (104) capable of being adjacent to the fold line widenings (Grey; fig.1).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tom (WO 2014/082026) in view of Schutz (US 6,454,113) in view of Majmundar (US 2014/0084016) in view of Matsuoka (US 2015/0028028) in view of Robbins (BR 9106794).
Claim 20: Tom discloses a transport and storage container 1 for liquids comprising a blow-molded inner sleeve (10) a bottom wall (112) connecting two side walls (102, 104), a rear wall (106) and a front wall (108) of the inner container and serving to support the inner container on the pallet floor of the transport pallet (402),
each have horizontal fold lines (14), the horizontal fold lines being disposed in a shared central horizontal plane, the ([0101]; fig. 4B).
Tom fails to disclose the inner container for use in connection with a transport sleeve. Schutz discloses a transport and storage container 1 for liquids for use in connection with a transport pallet (12) provided with an outer jacket (9), comprising: a foldable inner container (2) made of plastic material, having characteristics to be foldable against elastic restoring forces (filling and un-filling process) of the inner container for transporting and storing liquids (col. 3, ll. 21-35), the inner container (2) having an outlet socket (7) for connecting an outlet fitting on a front side (fig. 1) and a top wall (linear surface @3; fig. 1) located opposite the bottom wall (parallel surface) and provided with a filling opening (5), wherein the outer jacket provides for stackability of the transport and storage container (col. 2, ll. 26-40), the two side walls, the foldable inner container adapted to be arranged in a stack of folded inner containers within the outer jacket of the transport pallet (fig. 8). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inner sleeve of Tom to include the cage with pallet transport of Schutz to better protect and easily transport the inner sleeve in the used or unused configuration.
Tom-Schutz discloses a collapsible container enclosed in an outer sleeve but fails to disclose straps that are used to maintain the collapsed position of the inner container. Majmundar teaches a foldable container (10) for transporting and storing liquids, the inner container having elastic characteristics to be foldable against elastic restoring forces wherein, when the container is compressed to a folded size, the folded size is maintained against the elastic restoring forces by securing the container with belts 30 [0012]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the container of Tom-Schultz to include the straps of Majmundar to enable the collapsed position of the container to be maintained.
Tom-Schutz-Majmundar discloses a collapsible inner container stored inside an outer stackable container but fails to disclose multiple collapsible inner containers stored in an outer container. Robbins teaches a plurality of foldable plastic inner containers 333 capable of being received within an outer jacket (fig. 5, 5A). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the stacking ability of Tom-Schutz to include the multiple stacked inner containers of Robbins to provide the user with multiple inner containers for extending the use of the assembly.
It is further noted that the foldable container of Tom discloses fold lines to assist in the collapsed configuration of the container but fails to disclose the use of corrugated lines. Matsuoka teaches corrugated lines assisting in the collapsed configuration of the container. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the fold lines of Tom to include the corrugations of Matsuoka (in conjunction with fold lines) to offer more closure options of the foldable container.
Claim(s) 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tom (WO 2014/082026) in view of Schutz (US 6,454,113) in view of Majmundar (US 2014/0084016) in view of Matsuoka (US 2015/0028028) in view of Segati (US 5,174,458).
Claims 18-19: Tom-Schutz-Majmundar-Matsuoka discloses a method for folding an inner container of a transport and storage container according to claim 1, but fails to disclose the specific load application. Segati teaches wherein a point load P is externally applied to the surface centers of the front wall and the rear wall and a linear load L is externally applied along the horizontal fold lines of the side walls in such a manner that the front wall and the rear wall are moved toward each other and the side walls are moved toward each other (col. 5, ll. 24-35),
a surface load F being simultaneously exerted on the bottom wall and the top wall in such a manner that the bottom wall and the top wall move toward each other (col. 5, ll. 36-40). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the applied loading of Tom-Schutz-Majmundar-Matsuoka to include the folding operation of Seagati to assist in further flattening of the emptied container.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but in view of the amendments made regarding the elastic restoring forces to claims 1 and 20, the search has been updated, new prior art has been identified and applied, and a new rejection has been made.
Applicant’s arguments, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 and 20 under Tom in view of Schultz have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Matsuoka (US 2015/0028028). Matsuoka discloses a foldable storage container having corrugated lines. Corrugated lines are known in the art to work in conjunction with fold lines to inform the user where to fold as well as strengthen the overall container including the folded area.
Although the pallet has not been positively claimed, the rejection has been updated to clarify Examiner’s position. The rejection has also been updated to address Applicants’ arguments against the elastic material and folding capabilities of Schultz found in method claims 18 and 19.
Conclusion
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/RAVEN COLLINS/Examiner, Art Unit 3735
/Anthony D Stashick/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3735
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