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 1-9 and 16-17 in the reply filed on 03/23/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 10-15 and 18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 03/23/2026.
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, 3-4, 6-9, and 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Honshu Paper Co (DE 2718574 A1; hereinafter Honshu) in view of Richter et al. (US 2020/0180795 A1; hereinafter Richter).
Regarding claims 1, 3-4, 6, 8-9, and 16-17, Honshu discloses a heat sealed liquid-tight container comprising a container wall at least partially enclosing a container interior, and a first joining element (15/52; see Figures 19 and 30-31); wherein a jacket element (11) and a first end element (13) each form a region of the container wall; wherein the jacket element is at least partially formed from a first sheet-like material (see Figures 10-13), in relation to a length of the liquid-tight container laterally delimits the container interior, and includes a first edge region with a first edge (32); wherein the first edge region is arranged at a first end of the liquid-tight container (see Figures 17-18); wherein the first end element includes a central region (13) and a further edge region which surrounds the central region and has a further edge (see Figures 17-18); wherein the central region delimits the container interior, in relation to the length of the liquid-tight container, at the first end of the liquid-tight container in a first direction along the length of the liquid-tight container; wherein the further edge region is connected with a material bond to the jacket element by means of the first joining element (29); wherein the further edge forms a closed curve with a circumference (see Figures 17-19); wherein the further edge region has an edge width extending from the further edge to the central region at each point of the closed curve; wherein the first edge region protrudes beyond the further edge region at each point of the closed curve such that the first edge region has an overhang width from the further edge to the first edge (see Figures 17-18); wherein the overhang width is measured on a side of the first edge region facing away from the first end element; wherein the overhang width along at least 50% of the circumference is at least 30% of the edge width; wherein at least one first plane running parallel to the length of the liquid-tight container through the container interior comprises a first joining layer sequence, over the entire lateral extent of which, relative to the first joining layer sequence, the jacket element, the first joining element and the first end element follow one another directly as layers (15; see Figures 30-31); wherein the first joining element has a first surface contacting the first end element and a second surface contacting the jacket element; wherein an imaginary first straight line connects both end points of a first line formed in the at least one first plane by the first surface and lying within the first joining layer sequence; wherein an imaginary second straight line connects both end points of a second line formed in the at least one first plane by the second surface and lying within the first joining layer sequence; wherein the first straight line forms a first acute angle with the second straight line (Examiner considers a line along 37 to be acute relative to a line along 11; see Figures 30-33). Honshu lacks teaching that the sheet material is cardboard with a bending stiffness between 50 to 600 mN.
Richter teaches a method and device for forming package bodies that are open on one side; said package bodies formed from a sheet-like material comprising cardboard (see Par. 0067). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of Applicant’s filing to make Honshu’s container from a cardboard sheet-material as a known substitution of materials in the art. Further, Examiner notes that it would have been obvious to have said cardboard sheet have a bending stiffness between 50 to 600 mN in order to form a container of sufficient strength and integrity, 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.
Regarding claim 7, Honshu, as modified above, discloses a container wherein the first joining element in the at least one first plane has the shape of a triangle (Examiner considers seal coating 15 to have a generally triangular shape at an end corner; see Fig. 31)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 5 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER R DEMEREE whose telephone number is (571)270-1982. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, NATHAN J 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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/CHRISTOPHER R DEMEREE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3734
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