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 Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In line 4, “the region” should be --a region--,
In line 7, “the region” should be --a region--,
In line 7, “the free ends” should be --free ends--, and
In line 8, “the region” should be --a region--.
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In line 2, “only one elongate joining region” should be --the elongate joining region is only one elongate joining region--.
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In line 2, “at least two elongate joining regions” should be --the elongate joining region includes at least two elongate joining regions--.
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In lines 1-2, “the at least one elongate joining region” should be --the elongate joining region--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 9, 10, 12 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walitalo (US 4,106,734 A) in view of Cheng et al. (US 2019/0091077 A1, hereinafter Cheng) or Been (US 3,077,820 A), and Rosen (US 2,790,591 A).
Regarding claim 9, Walitalo teaches a flap bag (32) consisting of a material and having two opposite lateral edges and a bottom (FIG. 2), wherein an opening region is provided opposite the bottom for inserting a packaged item into the flap bag (FIG. 2), wherein an upper edge and an edge set back from the upper edge are arranged in the opening region (FIG. 2), and in a region between the upper edge and the set-back edge in the material has at least one opening (12, 14) for mechanical handling of the flap bag for inserting the packaged item into the flap bag, and wherein the material is formed in a continuous manner in a region of the lateral edges (FIG. 2) (column 5 lines 5-36, column 9 lines 17-28 and FIG. 2).
Walitalo fails to teach the material consisting of a multilayered material. Cheng and Been teach an analogous flap bags and further teaches that analogous flap bags are known in the prior art to consist of a multilayer material in order to impart particular and desirable characteristics to the bag (Cheng: paragraphs 29, 44-56, Been: column 1 lines 46-68).
Accordingly, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to modify Walitalo by forming the flap bag of a material consisting of a multilayered material, as taught by Cheng or Been, in order to impart particular and/or desirable characteristics to the bag.
Walitalo also fails to teach free ends in a region between the lateral edges being non-detachably connected to one another in an elongate joining region. Rosen teaches an analogous flap bag having two opposite lateral edges (Fig. 1-6) and a bottom (16), wherein a material forming the flap bag is formed in a continuous manner in a region of lateral edge. Rosen further teaches that analogous flap bags are known in the prior art to be formed to include free ends that are non-detachably connected to one another in an elongate joining region (15) in a region between the lateral edges (column 2 line 47-column 3 line 11 and Fig. 1-6).
Accordingly, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to modify Walitalo by configuring the material which forms the bag to include free ends in a region between the lateral edges and by non-detachably connecting the free ends to one another in the region between the lateral edges in an elongate joining region, as taught by Rosen, as it has been shown in the prior art to be a well-known and common configuration of a flap bag and thus, the substitution of one known bag configuration (i.e., seamless tube with no elongate joining region) for an alternative known bag configuration (i.e., flat sheet folded with free ends connected in elongate joining region) to achieve the equivalent result of forming a flap bag having an open top, a closed bottom and opposite continuous lateral edges would have been obvious and would have yielded predictable results to one skilled in the art.
Regarding claim 10, Walitalo as modified by Chang or Been, and Rosen, teaches the flap bag of claim 9 above, wherein the flap bag consists of only one layer of the multilayered material and the elongate joining region is only one elongate joining region (Cheng: paragraphs 29, 44-56, Been: column 1 lines 46-68, Rosen: column 2 line 47-column 3 line 11 and Fig. 1-6).
Regarding claim 12, Walitalo as modified by Chang or Been, and Rosen, teaches the flap bag of claim 9 above, wherein the elongate joining region runs approximately parallel to the lateral edges (Rosen: Fig. 1-3).
Regarding claim 14, Walitalo as modified by Chang or Been, and Rosen, teaches the flap bag of claim 9 above, wherein the free ends of the multilayered material are connected to one another in an overlapping manner in the elongate joining region (Rosen: Fig. 1-3).
Regarding claim 15, Walitalo as modified by Chang and Rosen teaches the flap bag of claim 9 above, wherein the multilayer material is a plastics film (Chang: paragraphs 44-56).
Regarding claim 16, Walitalo as modified by Been and Rosen teaches the flap bag of claim 9 above, wherein the multilayered material is a flap material which consists substantially of fibers of plant origin (Been: column 1 lines 46-68).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walitalo in view of Chang or Been, and Rosen, as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Reiselt (US 3,258,647 A).
Regarding claim 11, Walitalo as modified by Chang or Been, and Rosen, teaches the flap bag of claim 9 above, but fails to teach the flap bag consisting of more than one layer of the multilayered material and at least two elongate joining regions.
Reiselt teaches an analogous bag having two opposite folded lateral edges, a bottom and an open top, wherein a material forming the bag includes free ends that are non-detachably connected to one another in an elongate joining region. Reiselt further teaches that it is known and desirable in the prior art to provide more than one layer of a material and at least two elongate joining regions in order form a stronger bag and joining region with improved tensile strength across the joining region (column 1 lines 8-36, column 1 line 60-column 4 line 57 and Fig. 1-4).
Accordingly, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to modify Walitalo by forming the bag to consist of more than one layer of the multilayered material and at least two elongate joining regions, as taught by Reiselt, in order to form a stronger bag and joining region with improved tensile strength across the joining region.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walitalo in view of Chang or Been, and Rosen, as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Carnevalino (US 3,647,134 A).
Regarding claim 13, Walitalo as modified by Chang or Been, and Rosen, teaches the flap bag of claim 9 above, but fails to teach the free ends being connected to one another in an abutting manner in the elongate joining region.
Carnevalino teaches an analogous bag having two opposite lateral edges and a bottom, wherein the material forming the bag is formed in a continuous manner in a region of the lateral edges and includes free ends in a region between the lateral edges that are non-detachably connected to one another in an elongate joining region. Carnevalino further teaches that overlapping free ends and abutting free ends are well-known and common alternative structures for forming the elongate joining region (column 4 lines 11-23).
Accordingly, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to modify Walitalo, as modified by Rosen, by alternatively connecting the free ends in an abutting manner in the elongate joining region, as taught by Carnevalino, as it has been shown in the prior art to be a well-known and common alternative structure and thus, the substitution of one known joining configuration (overlapping) for an alternative known joining configuration (abutting) to achieve the equivalent result of forming connecting free ends in an elongate joining region would have been obvious and would have yielded predictable results to one skilled in the art.
Conclusion
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/NINA K ATTEL/Examiner, Art Unit 3734
/NATHAN J NEWHOUSE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3734