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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 January 8, 2026 has been entered.
In the Amended Claims of January 8, 2026, Claims 1-13 and 21-27 are pending. Claims 1, 7, 10, 21, and 24 are amended. Claim 27 is new.
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 10 and 24 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.
Claims 10 and 24 recites the limitation "the center bar of the pull tab". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-12 and 21-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Herbst (US 3938696).
Regarding Claim 1, Herbst discloses a pull tab (1) for opening a container of the type having a frangible region of a container lid and a rivet aperture adjacent the frangible region (4), the pull tab comprising a nose configured to apply downward pressure on the frangible region of the container lid, a rivet receiving portion adjacent to the nose that includes a rivet aperture therethrough (Col. 2 Lines 21-26). Herbst also discloses a lift portion (10A) located distal from the nose, wherein a distal end of the lift portion is formed in a convex shape as shown in Figure 5. A finger hole is located in proximity to the lift portion and one or more upward bends are situated on each of two opposing sides of the finger hole as shown in Figure 5 reproduced below. The upward bends are placed such that the lift portion is elevated relative to a bottom plane of the pull tab, The pull tab has a length and a width orthogonal to the length, the length defined along a line extending from the nose to the lift portion, the lift portion defining the width of the pull tab and the topmost plane of the lift portion extends continuously across the width of the lift portion; and an entirety of the lift portion is spaced apart from the container as shown below.
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While Herbst discloses that the finger grip portion (10A) of the tab (3A) is spaced away from the panel by the intermediate portion (11A) regardless of any bulging of the end panel (1A), Herbst does not disclose the lift portion is positioned at a distance between 1-2mm from a bottom plane of the pull tab and enabling efficient stacking of a plurality of the container lids during manufacturing to facilitate shipment and storage thereof.
However, a person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize and find obvious that the height of the topmost point of the lifting tab may be modified to be between 1-2mm as an obvious variation in the prior art’s proportions and shape to optimize the ease of inserting a finger or other object between the tab and the assembly surface to manipulate the tab component. This may be also considered as the optimization of the height in order to best facilitate the ease of use of the tab by setting the best height for a wide variety of users or to streamline the manufacture of the tab.
Regarding Claim 2, while Herbst does not disclose the positioning of the upward bends from the lift portion of the tab, a person having ordinary skill in the art would be capable of adjusting the location of the bends in order to provide optimal clearance for a user to insert a finger or other object as discussed above.
Regarding Claim 3, Herbst discloses the upward bends of the two opposing sides of the finger hole of the pull tab are each set at angles of between 1 and 50 degrees.
Regarding Claims 4-6, as discussed above, while Herbst does not disclose the exact dimensions of the pull tab, a person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize and find obvious that the dimensions of the pull tab may be modified in order to provide optimal clearance between the tab and the container lid or to best suit the dimensions and final application of the container.
Regarding Claim 7, as discussed above, Herbst discloses container lid for a container having an open top end, the container lid comprising: a flat cover having a peripheral edge, the flat cover having a frangible region and a rivet aperture adjacent the frangible region; a pull tab comprising: a nose configured to apply downward pressure on the frangible region of the container lid; a rivet receiving portion adjacent to the nose that includes a rivet aperture therethrough; a lift portion located distal from the nose; a finger hole located in proximity to the lift portion; and one or more upward bends situated on each of two opposing sides of the finger hole of the pull tab, said upward bends placed such that an entirety of the lift portion is elevated relative to a bottom plane of the pull tab, thereby facilitating user actuation of the pull tab and enabling efficient stacking of a plurality of the container lids to facilitate shipment and storage thereof and that the lift portion extends linearly between the two opposing sides. Herbst also discloses a rivet fixed through the rivet aperture of the flat cover and the rivet aperture of the pull tab as affixing the pull tab to the flat cover; whereby the container lid is applied to the open top end of the container to seal the container.
While Herbst does not explicitly disclose a topmost point of the lift portion being positioned at a distance between 1 mm and 2 mm from the bottom plane of the pull tab, a person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize and find obvious that the height of the topmost point would be positioned to best facilitate a user inserting a finger or other object between the tab lifting portion and the container lid base as discussed above.
Regarding Claims 8-12, these limitations are discussed above in the consideration of Claims 2-6. Furthermore, the exact positioning relative to the center bar may also be modified to suit desired lift tab specifications.
Regarding Claims 21-27, the limitations of these claims are addressed above.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Herbst (US 3938696) as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Werth (US 20120273492).
Regarding Claim 13, Herbst discloses the limitations of Claim 7 as discussed above. Herbst does not disclose the flat cover includes an indentation below the lift portion of the pull tab for further providing room to manually actuate the lift portion of the pull tab.
Werth discloses a similar pull tab with a flat cover that includes an indentation (adjacent to spacers 72 seen in cross section in Figure 2) below the lift portion of the pull tab for further providing room to manually actuate the lift portion of the pull tab. Herbst and Werth are analogous inventions in the art of pull tabs having raised lifting rear panels.
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the container flat cover of Herbst to include an indentation below the lift portion of the pull tab as disclosed in Werth in order to further elevate the tab end so that a user may more easily manually actuate the lift portion of the pull tab (Paragraphs 00064-0065).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 7, and 21 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GIDEON R. WEINERTH whose telephone number is (571)270-5121. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10AM-6PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Orlando Aviles can be reached at (571) 270-5531. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GIDEON R WEINERTH/Examiner, Art Unit 3736