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 .
Status of the Application
Claims 1, 6, 9-10, 17-18, and 23-25 have been examined in this application. This communication is the first action on the merits. The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 06/22/23 has been acknowledged and considered by the Office.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention 6 in the reply filed on 10/22/25 is acknowledged.
Claims 2-5, 7-8, 11-16, and 19-22 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 10/22/25.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to:
under 37 CFR 1.84(h)(3) because the plane upon which each sectional view is taken, is not indicated on the view from which the section is cut;
under 37 CFR 1.84(l) because of unclear lines and leaders. All drawings must be made by a process which will give them satisfactory reproduction characteristics. Every line, number, and letter must be durable, clean, black (except for color drawings), sufficiently dense and dark, and uniformly thick and well-defined. The weight of all lines and letters must be heavy enough to permit adequate reproduction. This requirement applies to all lines however fine, to shading, and to lines representing cut surfaces in sectional views. Lines and strokes of different thicknesses may be used in the same drawing where different thicknesses have a different meaning
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1, 9, 10, 23, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 5622287 to Glynn.
As per claims 1, 9, and 23, Glynn discloses a pump dispenser for a metered removal of a liquid from a container onto which the pump dispenser can be placed, comprising;
a housing configured to be placed on the container, the housing defining a metering chamber;
a pump head configured to be moved up and down relative to the housing along a longitudinal axis of the pump dispenser between a first and a second position to carry out a pump stroke;
a piston secured to the pump head and movable in the metering chamber to convey the liquid;
a dispenser opening connected to the metering chamber through which metered liquid can leave the pump dispenser;
a spring made of plastic configured to reset the pump head relative to the housing, the spring having a plurality of rings arranged one over another, each connected together by at least one connecting web; and
a valve defining a conveying direction of the liquid from the container into the dispenser opening, the valve configured to block a conveying process in an opposite direction.
As per claims 10 and 24, Glynn further discloses the dispenser opening extends in part in a dispenser extension on the housing (Fig. 1). Glynn does not explicitly disclose the dispenser extension being formed on the housing. However, this limitation is considered as product-by-process. Even though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process. There appears no structural difference between the product of Glynn and the product of claim 3 of the instant application.
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 25 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 5622287 to Glynn in view of US 20190143354 to Fries.
As per claims 25 and 17, Glynn discloses all those limitations of claims 25 recited in claims 1 and 23 and set forth above with respect to claims 1 and 23. Glynn does not disclose longitudinal ribs of different lengths formed on an inside of the pump head, one of the longitudinal ribs interacting by rotation of the pump head relative to the housing with at least one stop formed on the housing. Fries teaches a pump dispenser comprising longitudinal ribs of different lengths (22’, 22”, 22”’; Fig. 11) formed on an inside of the pump head (5) one of the longitudinal ribs interacting by rotation of the pump head relative to a housing with at least one stop formed on a housing ([0057]-[0059]). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was effectively filed to modify Glynn according to the aforementioned teachings from Fries for reasons including to control a dosage amount.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 5622287 to Glynn in view of US 5363993 to Mascitelli et al.
As per claim 18, Glynn discloses the claimed invention except for the particular material of the constituent components. Mascitelli teaches a pump dispenser wherein all constituent elements are made of plastic to make the dispenser completely salvageable (abstract). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to form the constituent components of Glynn from plastic, like taught by Mascitelli, for reasons including to similarly make the pump dispenser completely salvageable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record in FORM PTO-892 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 Randy Gruby, whose telephone number is (571) 272-3415. The examiner can normally be reached from Monday to Friday between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM.
If any attempt to reach the examiner by telephone is unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Paul Durand, can be reached at (571) 272-4459.
Another resource that is available to applicants is the Patent Data Portal (PDP). Information regarding the status of an application can be obtained from the (PDP) system. For more information about the PDP system, see https://opsg-portal.uspto.gov/OPSGPortal/. Should you have questions on access to the PDP system, please feel free to contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/R.A.G/Examiner, Art Unit 3754
/FREDERICK C NICOLAS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754