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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I (Figures 1-4C) in the reply filed on February 13, 2026, is acknowledged.
Claims 13-14 and 21 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species II (Figures 5-6B), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on February 13, 2026.
Currently, claims 10-12, 15-20, and 22 are under examination as readable on elected Species I (Figures 1-4C).
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because:
In lines 2-3, “the plunger rod, ,” should be changed to “the plunger rod,”
A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Objections
Claims 11, 15, 19, and 22 objected to because of the following informalities:
In regards to claim 11, line 3, “radial flexing” should be changed to “the radial flexing”.
In regards to claim 15, line 2, “claim 10, comprising” should be changed to “claim 10, further comprising”.
In regards to claim 15, line 5, “radial flexing” should be changed to “the radial flexing”.
In regards to claim 19, line 4, “where the plunger holder” should be changed to “wherein the plunger holder”.
In regards to claim 19, line 5, “where plunger rod holder” should be changed to “wherein the plunger holder”.
In regards to claim 19, line 5, “the proximal direction” should be changed to “a proximal direction”.
In regards to claim 19, line 14, “where the radial opening” should be changed to “wherein the radial opening”.
In regards to claim 22, line 1, “claim 19 further” should be changed to “claim 19, further”.
In regards to claim 22, line 2, “the movable sleeve” should be changed to “the sleeve”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 10-12, 15-20, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bostrom et al (US 9,656,025).
In regards to claim 10, Bostrom et al teaches a medicament delivery device (Figures 1-17) comprising:
a housing (2)
a plunger rod (20) biased in a proximal direction of the medicament delivery device (Figure 15)
a plunger holder (35) configured to receive the plunger rod and to radially engage with the plunger rod, wherein the plunger holder is configured to be biased in the proximal direction (Figure 15), and wherein the plunger holder has a radial recess (column 11, line 29: notch)
an inner body (50) arranged radially outside the plunger holder and provided with a radially flexible gripping member (51) configured to engage with the radial recess to hold the plunger holder in a fixed axial position (Figure 9)
a movable sleeve (45) configured to be moved axially in the housing from a first position relative to the housing, towards which the movable sleeve is biased (Figure 9), to a second position (Figure 12)
wherein the movable sleeve has a blocking wall (49) which in the first position is arranged radially outside the gripping member and which is prevented from flexing radially outwards by a radially inwards directed force applied onto the blocking wall by the housing, thereby preventing the gripping member to flex radially outwards and disengage from the recess (Figure 9), and wherein the movable sleeve has a radial opening (46) arranged proximally relative to the blocking wall, the radial opening being configured to align axially with the gripping member in the second position of the movable sleeve to allow the gripping member to flex radially outwards and release the plunger holder (Figures 12-15)
In regards to claim 11, Bostrom et al teaches wherein the blocking wall extends between the gripping member and an inner surface of the housing or a radially outwards arranged surface of the inner body to restrict radial flexing of the blocking wall (Figure 9).
In regards to claim 12, Bostrom et al teaches wherein the blocking wall extends all the way to the inner surface of the housing or to the radially outwards arranged surface (Figure 17).
In regards to claim 15, Bostrom et al teaches a filling sleeve (52/53) arranged radially outside of the movable sleeve and the gripping member, wherein the filling sleeve extends between an outer surface of the blocking wall and an inner surface of the housing or a radially outwards arranged surface of the inner body (top portion of 50 having 51) to prevent radial flexing of the blocking wall (Figure 17).
In regards to claim 16, Bostrom et al teaches wherein the filling sleeve is provided with a plurality of outer sleeve ribs (52), wherein the outer sleeve ribs extend all the way to the inner surface of the housing or the radially outwards arranged surface (Figure 17).
In regards to claim 17, Bostrom et al teaches wherein the filling sleeve has an axial through-opening (Figure 6) configured to receive a distal end portion of the movable sleeve when the movable sleeve is moved towards the second position (Figure 17).
In regards to claim 18, Bostrom et al teaches wherein the filling sleeve has a side wall (53) arranged radially outside the blocking wall when the movable sleeve is in the first position (Figure 9), wherein the side wall is provided with a filling sleeve opening (Figure 6) arranged proximally relative to a surface of the side wall that prevents the blocking wall to flex radially outwards in the first position of the movable sleeve (Figure 9), wherein the radial opening is configured to axially align with the filling sleeve opening in the second position of the movable sleeve (Figure 12).
In regards to claim 19, Bostrom et al teaches a medicament delivery device (Figures 1-17) comprising:
a housing (2)
a plunger rod (20)
a plunger holder (35) comprising a radial recess (column 11, line 29: notch), where the plunger holder radially engages the plunger rod and where plunger rod holder is biased in the proximal direction (Figure 15)
an inner body (50) surrounding the plunger holder and comprising a radially flexible gripping member (51) that engages the radial recess holding the plunger holder in a fixed axial position (Figure 9)
a sleeve (45) biased and movable axially relative to the housing from a first position (Figure 9) to a second position (Figure 12)
wherein the sleeve has a blocking wall (49) which in the first position is positioned adjacent the gripping member preventing the gripping member from flexing radially outward and disengaging from the recess (Figure 9)
wherein the sleeve has a radial opening (46) arranged proximally relative to the blocking wall, where the radial opening aligns axially with the gripping member when the sleeve is in the second position such that the gripping member flexes radially outwards releasing the plunger holder to move axially (Figures 12-15)
In regards to claim 20, Bostrom et al teaches wherein the blocking wall exerts a radially inward directed force caused by engagement with an inside surface of the housing (Figure 9).
In regards to claim 22, Bostrom et al teaches a filling sleeve (52/53) positioned outside of the movable sleeve and the gripping member and extends between an outer surface of the blocking wall and an inner surface of the housing (Figure 17).
Conclusion
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/SHEFALI D PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3783