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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-7 in the reply filed on 11/26/2025 is acknowledged. It should be noted that although claim 14 was in group I of the restriction, claim 14 is dependent on claim 8 which is not elected. As such, only claims 1-7 were supposed to be in group I of the restriction and are examined herein.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Herrington (US 4,603,434).
Regarding claim 1, Herrington discloses a reclosable flexible pouch, comprising: a flexible sheet folded (36 or 40) about at least one folding line and having first and second mutually facing front portions having respective side edges joined to each other along two sealing lines, the first and second mutually facing front portions having respective top edges and first and second interlockable closure formations (35, 43, 47) adjacent to the respective top edges, wherein said first and second interlockable closure formations are integrally (col. 8, ll. 23-25) formed with the respective first and second mutually facing front portions, and wherein each of said first and second interlockable closure formations has a succession of projections (54) and recesses (53) extending along a longitudinal direction such that the projections and recesses of one of the first and second interlockable closure formations are configured for interlocking with the recesses (63) and projections (64) of the other of the first and second interlockable closure formations. See Figs. 1-9.
Regarding claim 2, the projections of one of said first and second interlockable closure formations are transversely aligned to corresponding recesses of the other of said first and second interlockable closure formations and the recesses of one of said first and second interlockable closure formations are transversely aligned to corresponding projections of the other of said first and second interlockable closure formations. See Figs. 1-9.
Regarding claim 3, said first and second interlockable closure formations are equal to each other and offset with respect to each other along said longitudinal direction. See Figs. 1-9.
Regarding claim 6, said flexible sheet is a monolayer sheet of thermoformable material or a multilayer sheet comprising at least one outer layer of thermoformable material. See col. 1, ll. 10-25; and col. 2, ll. 40-45.
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.
Claim(s) 4, 5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Herrington as applied above.
Regarding claims 4 and 5, discloses the claimed invention except for the claimed material. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have the sheet have the material as claimed in order to have an environmentally friendly pouch since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. See In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Regarding claim 7, Herrington discloses the claimed invention except for the weight as claimed. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have a pouch weigh as claimed, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. See In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEREK J BATTISTI whose telephone number is (571)270-5709. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathan Newhouse can be reached at 571-272-4544. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DEREK J BATTISTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3734
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