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.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by JPH11-320739 (English machine translation provided herein).
JPH11-320739 discloses a packaging bag laminate, comprising: a base layer, an intermediate layer, and a sealant layer that are laminated in this order, wherein
the base layer is a stretched film made of polypropylene, the intermediate layer is a multilayer-coextruded film including a gas barrier resin layer, and support layers laminated on two sides of the gas barrier resin layer and mainly made of polyolefin, and the sealant layer is a film made of one or more materials selected from ethylene
homopolymer or ethylene copolymer (paragraphs [0001], [0008-0021], Examples, claims).
JPH11-320739 also discloses wherein the gas barrier resin layer contains ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, wherein the ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer has an ethylene unit content of 20 mol% or more and 70 mol% or less, wherein the multilayer-coextruded film has a polyolefin monomaterial ratio of 75% or more in terms of mass and a packaging bag (paragraphs [0001], [0008-0021], Examples, claims).
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) 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JPH11-320739 (English machine translation provided herein) in view of Takagi et al. (US 2019/0039800, cited by applicant).
JPH11-320739 does not disclose a spout-attached packaging bag in which a spout is attached to the packaging bag, wherein the spout includes a gas barrier layer, a content-contained spout-attached packaging bag in which contents are contained in the spout-attached packaging bag.
Takagi discloses a spout-attached packaging bag in which a spout is attached to the packaging bag, wherein the spout includes a gas barrier layer, a content-contained spout-attached packaging bag in which contents are contained in the spout-attached packaging bag (paragraphs [0002-0070]) for the purpose of providing improved gas barrier properties.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time applicant’s invention was made to have provided a spout-attached packaging bag in which a spout is attached to the packaging bag, wherein the spout includes a gas barrier layer, a content-contained spout-attached packaging bag in which contents are contained in the spout-attached packaging bag in JPH11-320739 in order to provide improved gas barrier properties as taught or suggested by Takagi.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL C MIGGINS whose telephone number is (571)272-1494. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 1-9 pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Aaron Austin can be reached at 571-272-8935. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL C MIGGINS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782
MCM
August 8, 2026
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