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 .
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, 3, and 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen (US PG PUB 2016/0037890).
Regarding claim 1, Chen discloses a refillable (paragraph [0031]) dispenser case (figure 1) comprising:
an outer base (items 10 and 40 combined together work as outer base, figure 1) rotatably connected to an outer cover (item 20, figure 1);
a cup (item 30, figure 1) received within and slidably coupled to the outer base (paragraph [0024]);
the outer cover has a lower portion which extends within the outer base and sleeves around an upper portion of the cup (figures 1 and 4), and the lower portion of the outer cover is provided with at least one slanted sliding groove (item 22, figure 1), each of the at least one slanted sliding groove engages with a corresponding protrusion (item 31, figures 1 and 4-5) protruded outwards from the upper portion of the cup;
a bottle (item 50, figure 1) inserted in the cup and having a dispensing outlet (item 56, figure 1) at an upper portion thereof;
rotation of the outer base relative to the outer cover simultaneously rotates the cup and drives the protrusion of the cup to move along the corresponding slanted sliding groove and thereby driving the cup to slide axially relative to the outer base between a retracted position at which the dispensing outlet of the bottle is not exposed from the outer cover and an extended position at which the dispensing outlet of the bottle is protruded outward from the outer cover (paragraphs [0028-0030]).
Regarding claim 3, Chen discloses that the bottle is releasably inserted in the cup (paragraphs [0031-0032])
Regarding claim 6, Chen discloses that the each of the outer cover and the outer base has a tubular interior which are interconnected with each other (figure 1).
Regarding claim 7, Chen discloses that the lower portion of the outer cover has an annular rib (item 21, figure 1) for snap engagement with an annular groove (item 41, figure 1) in an inner surface of the outer base (paragraph [0024]).
Regarding claim 8, Chen discloses that the bottle comprises a bottle body (item 51, figure 1), an upper end of the bottle body is coupled to a collar (item 60, figures 1-4) in which a pump engine (item 54, figure 1) is disposed; the dispensing outlet is disposed in an actuator (item 55, figure 1) and communicates with the pump engine; the actuator cooperates with the pump engine so that actuating the actuator activates the pump engine to pull a piston (item 53, figure 1) disposed in the bottle body upwards to discharge contents stored in the bottle body via the dispensing outlet (paragraph [0025]).
Regarding claim 9, Chen discloses that a top surface of the actuator flushes with a top end of the outer cover at the retracted position (figure 4).
Regarding claim 10, Chen discloses a longitudinal slot (multiple slots in lower portion of tube 20, figure 1) is provided at the lower portion of the outer cover.
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 2, 4, and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen.
Regarding claim 2, Chen teaches that the outer base is provided with at least one guiding groove (item 41, figure 1), which engages with a corresponding guiding rib or protrusion (item 21, figure 1) on the outer cover (figure 1) but does not explicitly teach that such groove engages towards a rib protruded outwards from a lower portion of the cup.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the invention of Chen by providing additional positioning and interlocking features between the outer cover and the cup in the form of grooves and matings ribs since such mechanisms provide easy mating structures that are also releasable.
Regarding claim 4, Chen teaches that the cup is provided with at least one arc portion (bottom convex portion of cup 30 which touches bottom of bottle 50, figure 7) which is convex inwards so as to releasably retain the bottle in the cup. However, Chen does not teach that the arc portion is elastic.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the invention of Chen such that the bottom convex portion of the cup is elastic to releasably retain the bottle in order to provide flexible holding means for the bottle within the cup without any direct grabbing structure.
Regarding claim 5, Chen teaches that each of the slanted sliding grooves comprises a horizontal section, a slanting section and an upper vertical section wherein each of the sections are continuous and connected to each other (figure 1, paragraph [0024]). Chen is silent to each groove having a lower horizontal section, a slanting section and an upper horizontal section.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the invention of Chen such that the slanted sections each comprise a lower horizontal section, a slanting section and an upper horizontal section with a continuous communication between the section in order to provide a smooth and continuous movement path for the protrusion of the cup which results in an efficient movement for the bottle and the dispensing mechanism.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following documents disclose subject matter related to refillable dispensers with retractable dispensing mechanism: US PN 7,857,174, US PN 7,874,461, US PN 8,695,852, US PN 8,714,412, US PN 9,186,689, US PG PUB 2020/0376510, US PN 11,154,126, US PN 11,406,167, and US PN 11,986,077.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VISHAL J PANCHOLI whose telephone number is (571)272-9324. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday (9 am - 7 pm).
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/Vishal Pancholi/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754