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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in Barre et al. (US 2017/0253378, hereinafter ‘Barre’) in view of Yahav (US 2018/0245277) and Holderness (US 2020/0157733).
Barre discloses a top-opening bag (10) for carrying textiles, having a semi-rigid flap (41+42) cut out (along corners of flap) capable of being positioned along a lower part of a front opening of a laundry washing or drying machine (functional/intended use limitation), the flap (41+42) being further attached to a rear vertical wall (23) of the bag, characterized in that the flap (41+42) and said rear vertical wall (23) are connected to one another by a rectangular strip (43) of a material softer than said semi-rigid material; except does not expressly disclose the means for holding the flap against the wall of the machine or the rear vertical wall specifically being made of a sheet of semi-rigid material as claimed.
However, Yahav teaches providing a laundry holding bag/hamper with magnets (10, 12, 14) for holding the bag against the wall of the machine around the door opening so as to allow the transfer of textiles between the bag and the machine drum as claimed.
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to add the magnets taught by Yahav to the lid of the hamper taught by Barre, in order to allow the bag to be adhered to the side of the machine allowing a user to easily use the bag for loading/unloading the machine as taught by Yahav (para 0007).
Further, Holderness teaches constructing a laundry hamper wherein the sidewalls are made of a sheet of semi-rigid material (para 0035) as claimed.
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to add the stiff panel inserts taught by Holderness to the sidewalls of the hamper taught by Barre as modified above, in order to prevent buckling of walls when the hamper is in the compressed state and aid in rigidness in the open state as taught by Holderness (para 0035).
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Barre as modified above discloses all limitations of the claim(s) as detailed above except does not expressly disclose the particular materials of construction as claimed.
However, it is noted that each of the claimed materials: nylon, polypropylene, and twill weave are known in the flexible bag making art and have been since long before the invention by applicant. The use of these materials is considered to be solidly within the general knowledge of those skilled in the art.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use nylon fabric, polypropylene web, or twill weave fabric, 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. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416. See also Ballas Liquidating Co. v. Allied industries of Kansas, Inc. (DC Kans) 205 USPQ 331.
Regarding claim 4, Barre as modified above discloses all limitations of the claim(s) as detailed above except discloses the strip being on the exterior of the bag rather than the inner face as claimed.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to construct thee Barre as modified above device with the flexible trip on the inner face rather than the exterior, since it has been held that a mere reversal of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. In re Einstein, 8 USPQ 167.
Barre as modified above further discloses the strip separates the rear vertical wall from the flap by a maximum distance of the order of magnitude of the minimum dimension of the flap, taken perpendicular to the rear vertical wall (see Fig. 1).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER N. HELVEY whose telephone number is (571)270-1423. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10am-7pm EST.
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/PETER N HELVEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3734
November 4, 2025