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 .
Double Patenting
The terminal disclaimer filed on 4/15/26 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of 18/480591 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-13, 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Policicchio (USPN 10694915) in view of Policicchio (PGPub 20140224698) and Cameron (PGPub 20150266633).
With regards to claim 1, a product comprising a container (packaging, col. 14, lines 52-55) and a plurality of cleaning wipes (10) contained in said container, wherein said cleaning wipes have a longitudinal axis (LA) extending between opposing transverse edges that cross said longitudinal axis and longitudinal edges spaced apart from said longitudinal axis and extending between said transverse edges, wherein said cleaning wipes each comprise: a first nonwoven (fig. 2a, b, 3a, top set of 27; col. 4, lines 5-7) extending along said longitudinal axis and comprising a plurality of first nonwoven strips (17) extending from first nonwoven fixed ends, wherein said first nonwoven fixed ends are oriented towards said longitudinal axis; a second nonwoven (fig. 2a, b, 3a; middle set of 27, col. 4, lines 5-7) extending along said longitudinal axis, wherein said second nonwoven is joined to said first nonwoven along a central bonded portion (38) and comprises a plurality of second nonwoven strips (17) extending from second nonwoven fixed ends to second nonwoven free ends, wherein said second nonwoven fixed ends are oriented towards said longitudinal axis, wherein along said central bonded portion said second nonwoven is below said first nonwoven (figure 2a, b).
With regards to claim 3 and 18, the first nonwoven is gate folded (folds in figure 2a) and comprises a first nonwoven main portion (center of 27) that extends across said longitudinal axis, a pair of first nonwoven fold lines on opposite sides of said longitudinal axis, and a pair of first nonwoven gate portions each of which extend from one of said first nonwoven fold lines towards said central bonded portion and are bonded to said first nonwoven main portion (figure 2a).
With regards to claim 4, parts of said first nonwoven gate portions adjacent said first nonwoven fold lines and said first nonwoven main portion are unbonded to one another (bonds 28 are not at the folds and gate portions as shown in figure 2a).
With regards to claim 5, said second nonwoven is gate folded (folds in figure 2a) and comprises a second nonwoven main portion (center of 27) that extends across said longitudinal axis, a pair of second nonwoven fold lines on opposite sides of said longitudinal axis, and a pair of second nonwoven gate portions, each of which extend from one of said second nonwoven fold lines towards said central bonded portion and are bonded to said second nonwoven main portion (figure 2a).
With regards to claim 6, said second nonwoven gate portions each extend to an individual second nonwoven gate portion end (see folds in figure 2a) wherein parts of said second nonwoven gate portions adjacent said second nonwoven fold lines and said second nonwoven main portion are unbonded to one another (bonds 38 are not at the folds and gate portions as shown in figure 2a).
With regards to claim 7, said cleaning wipe further comprises: a third nonwoven (bottom set of 27 in figure 2a, b, 3a) extending along said longitudinal axis, wherein said third nonwoven is joined directly or indirectly to said second nonwoven along said central bonded portion (directed joined via 38) and comprises a plurality of third nonwoven strips (17) extending from third nonwoven fixed ends (at folds; figure 2a), wherein said third nonwoven fixed ends are oriented towards said longitudinal axis, and wherein along said central bonded portion said second nonwoven is between said first nonwoven and said third nonwoven (25, 27, figure 1 and 2a).
With regards to claim 8, said third nonwoven strips extend further away from said longitudinal axis than said second nonwoven strips (figure 2b, where the third strip is further from the center).
With regards to claim 9, said third nonwoven is gate folded (see folds in figure 2a) and comprises a third nonwoven main portion (center of 25, 27) that extends across said longitudinal axis, a pair of third nonwoven fold lines on opposite sides of said longitudinal axis, and a pair of third nonwoven gate portions each of which extend from one of said third nonwoven fold lines towards said central bonded portion and are bonded to said third nonwoven main portion (figure 2a).
With regards to claim 10, said cleaning wipe further comprises: a fourth nonwoven (col. 7, lines 39-53 stated that up to 25 layers of items 27 can be used) extending along said longitudinal axis, wherein said fourth nonwoven is joined to said third nonwoven layer along said central bonded portion and comprises a plurality of fourth nonwoven strips extending from fourth nonwoven fixed ends, wherein said fourth nonwoven fixed ends are oriented towards said longitudinal axis L, and wherein along said central bonded portion said third nonwoven is between said second nonwoven and said fourth nonwoven (the same rejection as laid out in claim 7 would apply to claim 10 but with respect to a fourth layer).
With regards to claim 11, it is clear that for each layer added, it would extend further from the longitudinal axis than the previous layer as shown in figure 2b and3a.
With regards to claim 12, said fourth nonwoven is gate folded and comprises a fourth nonwoven main portion that extends across said longitudinal axis, a pair of fourth nonwoven fold lines on opposite sides of said longitudinal axis, and pair of fourth nonwoven gate portions each of which extend from one of said fourth nonwoven fold lines towards said central bonded portion and are bonded to said fourth nonwoven main portion (the same rejection as laid out in claim 9 would apply to claim 12, but respect to a fourth layer).
With regards to claim 13, said cleaning wipe is folded about a fold axis orthogonal to said longitudinal axis and portions of said first nonwoven on opposite sides of said fold axis face one another (folds of 27 which extend perpendicular/orthogonal to the longitudinal axis; element 27 is arranged on top of each other to face each other as seen in figure 1 and 2a).
With regards to claim 19, a product comprising a container (packaging, col. 14, lines 52-55) and a plurality of cleaning wipes (10) contained in said container, wherein said cleaning wipes have a longitudinal axis (LA) extending between opposing transverse edges that cross said longitudinal axis and longitudinal edges spaced apart from said longitudinal axis and extending between said transverse edges, wherein said cleaning wipes each comprise: a first nonwoven (fig. 2a, b, 3a, top set of 27; col. 4, lines 5-7) extending along said longitudinal axis and comprising a plurality of first nonwoven strips (17) extending from first nonwoven fixed ends, wherein said first nonwoven fixed ends are oriented towards said longitudinal axis; a second nonwoven (fig. 2a, b, 3a; middle set of 27, col. 4, lines 5-7) extending along said longitudinal axis, wherein said second nonwoven is joined to said first nonwoven along a central bonded portion (38) and comprises a plurality of second nonwoven strips (17) extending from second nonwoven fixed ends to second nonwoven free ends, wherein said second nonwoven fixed ends are oriented towards said longitudinal axis, wherein along said central bonded portion said second nonwoven is below said first nonwoven (figure 2a, b).
With regards to claim 20, the first nonwoven is gate folded (folds in figure 2a) and comprises a first nonwoven main portion (center of 27) that extends across said longitudinal axis, a pair of first nonwoven fold lines on opposite sides of said longitudinal axis, and a pair of first nonwoven gate portions each of which extend from one of said first nonwoven fold lines towards said central bonded portion and are bonded to said first nonwoven main portion (figure 2a).
Policicchio teaches all the essential elements of the claimed invention however fails to teach a closed container (claim 1, 18) with an intact frangible opening feature (claim 15) and also fails to teach that within the container, more than 10% by number (claim 1) and more than 30% by number (claim 2, 16) of said second nonwoven strips are bent (claim 1, 2, 16) or twisted (claim 17) so that said second nonwoven free ends are out of plane relative to said second nonwoven fixed ends or that the second nonwoven strips are interlaced with the first nonwoven strips (claim 19).
Cameron teaches a package for wet wipes comprising a closed container (11) with a frangible opening feature (23, 31). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Policicchio so that the package for the wipes is a closed container with a frangible opening feature as taught by Cameron so that the container can be opened and reclosed in a non-destructive manner.
Policicchio teaches that fluffing will occur after removed from the container. However, Policicchio (‘698) teaches a cleaning wipe with layers that is pre-fluffed prior to being placed in the container (paragraph 0011, 0028, 0047-0048). While no percentage is taught, it is clear that more than 10 and 30% by number are bent, twisted and interlaced since the entire cleaning wipe is pre-fluffed. By pre-fluffing the nonwoven layers will deform out of the XY plane and become twisted, bent and interlaced. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Policicchio so that the wipes are pre-fluffed as taught by Policicchio (‘698) to provide ready-to-use performance without the need for a separate fluffing step (paragraph 0011).
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Policicchio (USPN 10694915), Cameron (PGPub 20150266633) and Policicchio (PGPub 20140224698), further in view of Yamada (WO 2006070502).
Policicchio, Cameron and Policicchio (‘698) teach all the essential elements of the claimed invention however fail to teach that the first nonwoven strips have a first color and said second nonwoven strips have a second color, wherein said first color differs from said second color. Policicchio teaches that some of the structure of the wipes are different colors to show contrast, however makes no mention of different colored strips (col. 13, lines 34-42). Yamada teaches a cleaning wipe with a first and second nonwoven layer (6) with strips having free ends and fixed ends (10). Each of the layers can be different colors (paragraph 0024, 0034). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the strips of Policicchio so that they are different colors as taught by Yamada, since changing colors is a modification that has been considered to be within the level of ordinary skill in the art to follow and would not modify the functionality of the device. MPEP 2144.04.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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.
The applicant amended the claim to state that the wipes are bent, twisted, interlaced within the container. After further search, the Policicchio (‘698) reference was found. This reference teaches pre-fluffing prior to insertion into a container. Thus, an obvious type rejection was made stating that it is known in the art to pre-fluff prior to placing in the container.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAY LYNN KARLS whose telephone number is (571)272-1268. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th (6am-5pm).
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/SHAY KARLS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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