DETAILED ACTION
Claim Objections
1. Claim 15 objected to because of the following informalities: “tube portion” should be “the tube portion”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
2. 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.
Claims 4 and 5 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.
Regarding claim 4, the term “the attachment extension” lacks proper antecedent basis in the claim. Examiner notes claim 4 introduces “an attachment portion”, and it is believed this is the term back to which “the attachment extension” is referring.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. 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.
4. Claims 1, 2, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2,964,208 (Heyl).
Regarding claim 1, dispensing bottle comprising:
a container body (2) having a neck (4) forming an opening (defined by the neck upper edge 12) and neck threads (14) thereon;
a closure cap (16) having a central member (18) and a skirt (20) dependent from the central member, the skirt having threads (22) corresponding to the neck threads to thereby secure the closure cap relative to the container body;
a fitment (26) including a base portion (30) and a tube (28), the base portion attached to the neck of the container body (see insertion into container neck whereby the bottom of 30 sits on rim 12) and including at least one opening (32) therethrough and the tube extending from the base portion and into the container body (clearly seen in cross section in Figure 1), the tube forming a fluid flow channel within the neck of the container body to the opening of the base portion of the fitment to form a serum well within the neck of the container body (see location of 28 within the container neck in Figure 1, thus forming the claimed serum well); and
a liner (24) sealed to at least one of a rim of the neck of the container body and the base portion of the fitment (liner 24 is sealed against the upper surface of base portion 30 by the pressure of the closure cap; Examiner notes the term “sealed to” is not read to comprise any kind of attachment means like adhesive or welding).
Regarding claim 2, the base portion of the fitment is secured to the neck of the container body by a snap-fit or friction-fit connection (the base portion is secured by way of the friction between the inner surface of the container neck and the outer surface of tube 28).
Regarding claim 8, the liner is secured to the base portion of the fitment and the base portion of the fitment is secured to a portion of the container body (all elements are secured to each other under pressure from the closure cap which creates a single integral unit).
5. Claims 17-19 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 8,573,423 (McGeough).
Regarding claim 17, McGeough teaches a method of manufacturing a dispensing bottle comprising:
molding a receptacle having a neck (50) with threads thereon (52);
molding a closure cap (4) including a base (20), the base including a skirt (22) with base threads (26) configured to engage the threads of the receptacle;
positioning a seal liner (8) within a recess of the base of the closure cap;
positioning a fitment within the recess of the base of the closure cap, the fitment having a base portion (10) and a tube (6) extending from the base portion;
attaching the closure cap to the receptacle such that the tube of the fitment extends into the receptacle (see Figure 2); and
sealing the seal liner to at least one of the neck of the receptacle and the fitment by an induction seal (col. 6, lines 28-29).
Regarding claim 18, sealing the seal liner to the neck of the receptacle welds the base portion of the fitment to the neck of the receptacle (induction weld between foil and flange 8 is taught in col. 6, lines 28-29; induction weld between 10 and container rim in col. 6, lines 40-43).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 1, 2, 8-10, and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2007/0267304 (Portier) in view of US 4,158,902 (Chernack).
Regarding claim 1, Portier teaches a dispensing bottle comprising:
a container body (1) having a neck (4) forming an opening (defined by the neck) and neck threads thereon (not taught);
a closure cap having a central member and a skirt dependent from the central member, the skirt having threads corresponding to the neck threads to thereby secure the closure cap relative to the container body (not taught);
a fitment (3) including a base portion (12) and a tube (13), the base portion attached to the neck of the container body (see insertion into container neck in Figure 1 whereby the bottom of 12 sits in a groove at the top of the container neck) and including at least one opening (8) therethrough and the tube extending from the base portion and into the container body (clearly seen in cross section in Figure 1), the tube forming a fluid flow channel within the neck of the container body to the opening of the base portion of the fitment to form a serum well within the neck of the container body (see location of 13 within the container neck in Figure 1, thus forming the claimed serum well); and
a liner (11) sealed to at least one of a rim of the neck of the container body and the base portion of the fitment (taught to be heat sealed to both the container neck and the base portion of the fitment as seen in Figure 1 and taught in para. [0122]).
Portier fails to teach a closure cap having a central member and a skirt dependent from the central member, the skirt having threads corresponding to the neck threads to thereby secure the closure cap relative to the container body.
However, Examiner notes Portier teaches use of a closure such as a “reusable stopper/cover” after opening (see end of para. [0036]).
Chernack teaches a closure cap having a central member (32) and a skirt (34) dependent from the central member, the skirt having threads (48) corresponding to the neck threads (unlabeled neck threads taught in col. 4, lines 15-18) to thereby secure the closure cap relative to the container body (see Figure 10).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the container of Portier, providing the closure of Chernack including providing mating threading on the neck of Portier to receive threading of the closure of Chernack, motivated by the benefit of reusably sealing the container, having a predictable outcome absent a teaching of an unexpected result. See KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. et al. No. 04-1350, 550 U.S. 2007 at 13, lines 22-25 which states, “When a work is available in one field of endeavor, design incentives ...can prompt variations of it, either in the same field or a different one. Furthermore, see id. at 13, lines 27-31 which states “if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious”. Moreover, Examiner notes the closure of Chernack can be modified to dispense any product by enlarging the dispensing opening, including pills as taught by Portier.
Regarding claim 2, the base portion of the fitment is secured to the neck of the container body by a snap-fit or friction-fit connection (Portier 13 is fiction fit within the container neck opening as seen in Figure 1 therein).
Regarding claim 8, the liner is secured to the base portion of the fitment (see teaching of the heat seal 11 being sealed to the upper surface of the fitment 9 in para. [0126]) and the base portion of the fitment is secured to a portion of the container body (base portion is secured to the container body by way of the heat seal sealing both the supper surface of the fitment 9 and the upper surface of the container rim as stated in para. [0126]).
Regarding claim 9, the liner is secured to at least one of the neck of the container body and the base portion of the fitment by an induction seal (see “induction” in para. [0125]).
Regarding claim 10, the base portion of the fitment is welded to the neck of the container body during induction sealing (base portion is secured to the container body by way of the heat seal sealing both the supper surface of the fitment 9 and the upper surface of the container rim as stated in para. [0126]; this “bridging” of the base portion of the fitment, and the upper surface of the container neck, by the heat seal is read such that the fitment is welded to the container).
Regarding claim 13, the liner is peelably removable from the at least one of the container body and the fitment, while the fitment remains secured to the container body (the heat seal, which is located above the fitment as clearly seen in Figure 1, is taught to be “peelable” in at least para. [0122]).
Regarding claim 14, the closure cap includes a base (Chernack 32 and 34) and a flip-top lid (12; taught to comprise a “snap hinge” and thus read as a “flip-top”) hingedly connected to the base (see hinge 38), the base including the central member and the central member including an opening (40) for fluid to flow through (the combined prior art device, by having a pathway from the container interior to exterior, is capable of dispensing fluid), wherein the tube of the fitment forms a fluid flow channel to the opening of central member of the closure cap when the closure cap is attached to the container body (the central opening 8 in the fitment of Portier is axially aligned with the central opening 40 of Chernack creating an axial discharge fluid pathway).
Regarding claim 15, the base portion of the fitment includes an upper surface for engaging the base of the closure cap when the closure cap is attached to the container body (Examiner notes Portier Figure 1 shows the fitment flush with the plane of the container rim, and similarly Chernack shows the bottom of the opening 40 flush with the top surface of the container neck in Figure 5, and accordingly the combined prior art devices will abut each other at the plane of the container neck rim) such that tube portion is aligned with the opening of the closure cap such that fluid flows through the tube of the fitment to the opening of the closure cap (the central opening 8 in the fitment of Portier is axially aligned with the central opening 40 of Chernack creating an axial discharge fluid pathway).
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 4 and 5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
9. Claims 3, 6-7, 11, 12, 16, and 19-21 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
10. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 3, from which claims 4 and 5 depend, Portier and Heyl each fail to teach an inner surface of the neck includes a groove and the periphery of the base portion of the fitment snaps into the groove. Examiner notes the base portion of Portier does not insert into the inner surface of the neck, but instead sits with in a recess in the upper surface of the rim.
Regarding claim 6, from which claim 7 depends, Portier and Heyl each fail to teach a second liner between the rim of the neck of the container body and the base portion of the fitment. There is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to provide a second liner in either of these references.
Regarding claim 11, Portier and Heyl each fail to teach that an end of the tube opposite the base portion of the fitment includes a pair of opposing openings at a diverter cone supported at the end of the tube opposite the base portion of the fitment. There is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to provide a pair of opposing openings at a diverter cone in either of these references.
Regarding claim 12, Portier and Heyl each fail to teach that the at least one opening of the base portion of the fitment further includes a central opening and at least one annular opening therethrough permitting access into the container body when the closure cap is removed from the container body. There is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to provide additional openings in either of these references.
Regarding claim 16, Portier and Heyl each fail to teach that the closure cap includes an outer shell around the skirt of the base. There is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to an outer shell around the skirt of the base in either of these references.
Regarding claim 19, from which claim 20, depends, McGeough fails to teach an inner surface of the neck includes a groove and the periphery of the base portion of the fitment snaps into the groove. Examiner notes the base portion of McGeough does not insert into the inner surface of the neck, but instead is induction welded to the upper surface of the rim.
Regarding claim 21, McGeough fails to teach that further comprising positioning a seal within the recess of the base of the closure cap and sealing the seal between the base portion of the fitment and the neck of the receptacle. There is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to further provide a seal within the recess in either of these references.
No motivation could be found to modify the references in order to arrive at the claimed invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES N SMALLEY whose telephone number is (571)272-4547. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.
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/JAMES N SMALLEY/Examiner, Art Unit 3733