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 Group I, claims 1-9, in the reply filed on 20 December 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention:
The language “A portable drinking bottle … comprising a portable drinking bottle” in claim 1 is confusing. Subsequent references to “the portable drinking bottle”, “the drinking bottle” and “the bottle” are ambiguous as to which of the two bottles is being reference.
Likewise, in claim 1, the double recitation “having an internal mixing compartment…an internal mixing compartment” is confusing.
The “ellipsoidal” requirement of claim 9 contradicts the spherical requirement of claim 7 from which claim 9 indirectly depends. (Claim 9 depends from claim 8 which depends from claim 7.)
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.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cerasani (US 20130279287) in view of Sorensen (US 6,379,032):
Regarding claim 1, Cerasani discloses a portable drinking bottle comprising a sidewall (12) extending from a base (the upper end in Fig. 3 ) to a top (the lower end in Fig. 3), an opening in the top (the lower end in Fig. 3), and a removable upper lid (32) sealing the opening; an internal mixing compartment defined by a cylindrical, rigid screen mesh sidewall (24 or a portion thereof) extending into the bottle from the base of the bottle to a mixing compartment top (48), the internal mixing compartment having a cross-sectional area less than the cross-sectional area of the bottle (see Fig. 2); an opening (16 or 26) to the mixing compartment in the base of the bottle; and a removable bottom lid (20 or 23) sealing the opening to the mixing compartment in the base of the bottle. However, an agitator in the mixing compartment is not disclosed. Sorensen teaches an agitator (60) in a mixing compartment. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have provided an agitator within the mixing compartment of Cerasani as taught by Sorensen to improve mixing.
Regarding claim 2, the internal mixing compartment is removable from the bottom through the opening (16) in the base of the bottle (see Figs. 2 and 3).
Regarding claim 3, the drinking bottle and the mixing compartment are both substantially cylindrical and are coaxially aligned about a longitudinal axis (see Figs. 2 and 3).
Regarding claim 4, the agitator taught by Sorensen is a free-floating agitator (60).
Regarding claim 5, Sorensen further teaches that the at least one agitator is removable from the mixing compartment and is sized to fit through the opening in the base of a bottle (see Figs. 5 and 7 of Sorensen).
Regarding claim 6, an annular lip (26) around the opening in the base of the drinking bottle prevents the agitator from exiting the mixing compartment chamber.
Regarding claim 7, the at least one agitator taught by Sorensen comprises a spherical frame (62) surrounding an internal weighted sphere (64).
Regarding claim 8, Sorensen further teaches a width of the at least one agitator is substantially equal to a width of the mixing compartment (see Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 9, the agitator being ellipsoidal is further taught by Sorensen (see col. 2, lines 16-18).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID L SORKIN whose telephone number is (571)272-1148. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-3:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Claire X Wang can be reached at (571) 270-1051. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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DAVID L. SORKIN
Examiner
Art Unit 1774
/DAVID L SORKIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1774