DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/27/2026 has been entered.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Statuses
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 Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/17/2024, regarding the 35 USC 103 rejections of Claims 1 and 4-13, and 21 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for these reasons:
Regarding Applicant’s Assertion that The primary reference of 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 (Page 7), the examiner disagrees, pointing out that the filing date of the instant application is 10/14/2020 and Ebags was available to the public 3/20/2020. 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 again. Below is a screen shot of the youtube printed publication of Ebags.
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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, 4-10 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 Korean Publication KR200490721 by Park (Here forth “Park”), Chinese Patent 209905419 by Miao (Here forth “Miao”), and US Publication 2006/0138006 by Godshaw (Here forth “Godshaw”).
Regarding claim 1, Ebags discloses a soft-sided container (Examiner Annotated Fig A shown below) comprising:
a soft-sided containment envelope (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below, the container is a soft- sided envelope) having a first member (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below, first member includes the top wall which is also the second wall), a second member (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below, second member includes the bottom wall which is also the first wall), and peripheral sidewall extending between the first member and the second member (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below, peripheral side wall is between the right and left side walls; peripheral sidewall has an upper margin and a lower margin);
said first member defining a top wall of said soft-sided containment envelope (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below), said top wall defining a lid thereof (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below);
said second member defining a bottom wall of said soft-sided containment envelope (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below);
said first member, second member and peripheral sidewall co-operating to define an internal chamber into which to introduce objects (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below, the walls define a chamber within);
said chamber having an opening (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below, opening is where the tracked fastener is);
said lid defined by said top wall being movable between an open position and a closed position to govern access to said chamber through said opening (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below, the lid is capable of moving between and open and closed position);
said peripheral sidewall has a lower margin and an upper margin distant from said lower margin (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below lower margin is lower part of peripheral wall and upper margin is the upper part of the peripheral wall), said lower margin being connected to said bottom wall, and said upper margin being hingedly connected to said top wall (Examiner annotated Fig A shown below, lower margin is lower part of peripheral wall that attaches to bottom wall and upper margin is the upper part of the peripheral wall connecting to the top wall; the top and bottom walls are hingedly connected);
said soft-sided containment envelope including a spreader (Fig A, spreader is the piece of cloth with the stitching shown that the handle is attached to that behaves as a spreader as it separate the top wall from the bottom wall separating the two; Fig A, spreader is a stiffener mounted to said upper margin of said peripheral wall since it adds a degree of stiffening),
said spreader (Fig A) [Not taught: including a reinforcement rod mounted to and extending about said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall; said reinforcement rod defining a rigid former extending peripherally about said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall to cause said soft-sided container to maintain its nominal plan form shape];
said lid having a closure operable to secure said lid in said closed position relative to said chamber (Fig A, the lid can be unzipped to move between an opened and closed position; the container is movable between a first mode and a second mode by opening and closing lid, said first mode being an expanded mode and said second mode being a contracted mode; Fig 4, 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 a drawn toward each other in an axial direction, wherein said peripheral sidewall is axially collapsible in said imaginary vertical axial direction about the bending portion of the back peripheral wall);
[Not taught: a first suspender defining a first hanger and a second suspender defining a second hanger,
said first hanger and said second hanger being mounted to said soft-sided containment envelope;
said first and second hangers being opposed on opposite sides of said chamber;
said first and second suspenders having respective first and second members, said first member being a link and said second member being a first hook mounted to said link, said link being rooted to said peripheral sidewall;
said first and second hangers being movable between respective stored and deployed positions;
in said respective deployed positions said first and second hangers being co-operable to suspend said soft-sided containment envelope in a hanging position;
in said respective stored positions said first and second hangers being located inside said soft-sided container, said hangers being positionable to lie across the inside of said container and being operable to engage each other to function as retainers for objects enclosed within said envelope and are enclosed within said chamber when said lid is in said closed position; and
said soft-sided-containment envelope having at least a first retainer and a second retainer at which removably to mount corresponding first hooks of 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 Fig 1 of Ebags
Ebags does not expressly disclose the following limitations:
Limitation A: suspenders with hangers
Limitation B: retainers and cascading containers
Limitation C: Reinforcement rod in spreader
Park disclose a similar hanging system that teaches Limitation A, a first suspender defining a first hanger and a second suspender defining a second hanger (Fig B),
said first hanger and said second hanger being mounted to said soft-sided containment envelope (Fig B);
said first and second hangers being opposed on opposite sides of said chamber (Fig B);
said first and second suspenders having respective first and second members, said first member being a link and said second member being a first hook mounted to said link, said link being rooted to said peripheral sidewall (Fig B);
said first and second hangers being movable between respective stored and deployed positions (Fig B-C);
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 C);
in said respective stored positions said first and second hangers being located inside said soft-sided container (Fig B-C, when collapsible position is collapsed, the hangers are located inside the container envelope), said hangers being positionable to lie across the inside of said container and being operable to engage each other to function as retainers for objects enclosed within said envelope and are enclosed within said chamber when said lid is in said closed position (Fig B, the hangers are capable of retaining closed within; said link is a strap; said first hook is mounted to said strap, said strap has a first end and a second end, said first and second ends are mounted to spaced-apart locations on said peripheral sidewall to divide hanging load of said first hook of said respective hanger; and said link is a flap having a widened base through which loading of the hook is distributed to said peripheral sidewall);
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Fig B- Examiner Annotated Fig 3 of Park
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Fig C- Examiner Annotated Fig 5 of Park
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags and Park before them, to be able to have suspenders and hangers go from the deployed to stored position that can be stored in the container in the storage position, as taught by Park, to advantageously be able to store the container conveniently.
Miao discloses a similar soft sided container that teaches Limitation B wherein said soft-sided-containment envelope having at least a first retainer and a second retainer at which removably to mount corresponding first hooks of first and second hangers of a second such soft-sided container to form a cascade of said soft-sided containers (Fig 1 and 6, the bottom of strip 2 contains a retainer through which the cascading containers can attach on; second soft-sided container being hangable from the first soft-sided container);
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, to be able to allow the containers to cascade, as taught by Miao, to advantageously be able to organize and store items such that space is not wasted and maintain the shape of the containers.
Godshaw discloses a similar container that discloses Limitation C wherein said spreader including a reinforcement rod to mounted and extending about said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall; said reinforcement rod defining a rigid former extending peripherally about said upper margin of said peripheral sidewall to cause said soft-sided container to maintain its nominal plan form shape (Para 9 and Fig D of Godshaw).
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Fig D- Examiner Annotated Fig 1 of Godshaw
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags as modified and Godshaw before them, to be have the spreaders include reinforcement rods, as taught by Godshaw, to advantageously be able to provide shape retention (Para 9).
Regarding claim 4, Ebags as modified does not expressly disclose the following limitations:
Limitation D: anchor points
Miao further discloses wherein the first and second anchor points are mounted to a lower margin of the soft-sided container (Fig 1 and 6, the bottom of strip 2 located at the lower margin contains an anchor point through which the cascading containers can attach on), and those anchor points are reinforced to carry vertical load transmitted therethrough from an object suspended therefrom (Fig 5, the anchor points can be seen able to carry a vertical load).
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 modify the modified Ebags to include reinforced anchor points, as taught by Miao, to advantageously attach other containers to the container, creating an organizer.
Regarding claim 5, Ebags further discloses wherein said container is rectangular in plan view (Examiner annotated Fig A shown above); (Examiner annotated Fig A shown above, the container is rectangular in shape) said peripheral side wall 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 (Examiner annotated Fig A shown above, the container is rectangular shaped).
Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including wherein said first and second suspenders are mounted to said first and second short sides of said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1; Park Fig 1, the suspenders are mounted to the short sides of the peripheral sidewall).
Regarding claim 6, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including
wherein one of:
(a) said link is a strap; said first hook is mounted to said strap, said strap has a first end and a second end, said first and second ends are mounted to spaced-apart locations on said peripheral sidewall to divide hanging load of said first hook of said respective hanger; and
(b) said link is a flap having a widened base through which loading of the hook is distributed to said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1, Fig B of Park)
Regarding claim 7, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including wherein when 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 1 of Miao).
Regarding claim 8, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including when The soft-sided container of claim 1, wherein said first and second retainers have an independent load path to said first and second suspenders independent of said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1; Miao, Fig 6 each hanger has an independent load path that takes the load of a portion of a container).
Regarding claim 9, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including 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 reefed mode in which said peripheral sidewall is reefed ( See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1; Fig A Container is movable between a first mode and a second mode, said first mode being an expanded mode and said second mode being a reefed mode).
Regarding claim 10, Ebags as modified includes all of the limitations including 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, and said first position being a proximate position in which said bottom and said lid a drawn toward each other in an axial direction, wherein said peripheral sidewall is axially collapsible in said axial direction ( See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1; Fig A, 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 a drawn toward each other in an axial direction, wherein said peripheral sidewall is axially collapsible in said imaginary axial direction about the bending portion of the back peripheral wall).
Claim 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ebags, Park and Miao, Godshaw, in view of US Publication 2020/0170361 by Reh-Dunn (Here forth “Dunn”).
Regarding claim 11, Ebags does not expressly disclose the following limitations:
Limitation E: tracked fastener operable to reef of peripheral wall
Dunn discloses a similar soft container that teaches Limitation E, wherein said peripheral sidewall has a tracked fastener, said tracked fastener extends about said peripheral sidewall said tracked fastener being operable to reef said peripheral sidewall and to compress said chamber inside said soft-sided container (Fig 1A-1B, tracked fasteners A and B extends about peripherally on the side wall to compress the chamber or extend it; said tracked fastener is movable from a first position in which said peripheral sidewall is reefed, to a second position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially expanded).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags as modified and Dunn before them, when the application was filed, to modify the modified Ebags include tracked fastener that extend about the peripheral sidewall said tracked fastener being operable to reef said peripheral sidewall and to compress said chamber inside, as taught by Dunn, to advantageously increase and decrease the size of the containers based on need (Abstract).
Regarding claim 12, Ebags includes all of the limitations including wherein said tracked fastener is movable from a first position in which said peripheral sidewall is reefed, to a second position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially expanded (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 11, Fig 1A and 1B).
Regarding claim 13, Ebags as modified discloses wherein
said container is rectangular in plan view (Ebags, Fig A); said peripheral sidewall has a pair of first and second long sides and a pair of first and second short sides (Ebags, Fig A) corresponding to said rectangular container in plan view (Ebags, Fig A); and said first and second hangers are mounted to said first and second short sides of said peripheral sidewall;
at least one of said first and second hangers includes a distributed connection to said peripheral sidewall (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1; Fig B, hangers lay splayed in relation to peripheral wall); and
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 (Ebags, Fig A, the lid can be unzipped or zipped expanding or contracting the container from first mode to second mode); said peripheral sidewall is axially collapsible (Fig A, the container is collapsible about an imaginary axis about the bending portion of the back peripheral wall);
Ebags does not expressly disclose the following limitations:
Limitation F: reinforcement rod
Limitation G: reefable sidewalls expanded and retracted via tracked fasteners
Godshaw discloses a similar container teaches Limitation F, wherein said spreader includes a reinforcement rod extending about said periphery (Para 9 and Fig D of Godshaw).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Miao as modified and Godshaw before them, when the application was filed, to have modified the spreader to include the concept of a reinforcement rod added , as taught by Godshaw, to advantageously provide structural support (Para 9).
Dunn discloses a similar soft container that teaches Limitation G, wherein 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 reefed, to a second position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially expanded (Fig 1A-1B, tracked fasteners A and B extends about peripherally on the side wall to compress the chamber or extend it; said tracked fastener is movable from a first position in which said peripheral sidewall is reefed, to a second position in which said peripheral sidewall is axially expanded).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art having the teachings of Ebags as modified and Dunn before them, when the application was filed, to include tracked fastener that extend about the peripheral sidewall said tracked fastener being operable to reef said peripheral sidewall and to compress said chamber inside, as taught by Dunn, to advantageously increase and decrease the size of the containers based on need (Abstract).
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ebags, Park, Miao, and Godshaw in view of International Publication DE202015007681 by Kranemann (Here forth “Kranemann”).
Regarding claim 21, Ebags does not expressly disclose the following limitations:
Limitation F: a second hook
Kranemann discloses a similar bag that teaches Limitation F, wherein when said respective suspenders have a second hook mounted thereto in addition to said first hook (See the detailed description of the rejection of claim 1; Park, Fig 8, there is a first and second hook 26).
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, modify the modified Ebags to include a second hook on each suspender, as taught by Kranemann, to advantageously hang and store 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
/DON M ANDERSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3733