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
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 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, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 24-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Matsuda et al. (US 20200030164 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Matsuda discloses a fixation system (10) comprising,
at least one bonding component (area A, annotated fig. 1b) comprising
at least one fixed portion (2) comprising a first face (21b) and an oppositely directed second face (21a),
at least one fold-back portion (2a) comprising a distal region (1); and optionally, at least one fastening component (14) connected to the distal region (1) of the bonding component fold-back portion (fig. 1b),
wherein disposed on at least a portion of the second face (21a) of the fixed portion is an adhesive (22),
wherein the distal region (1) of the fold-back portion (2a) comprises a first face (11a) and an oppositely directed second face (11b),
wherein the fastening component (14) comprises a first face (B, annotated fig. 1b) and an oppositely directed second face (C, annotated fig. 1b),
wherein disposed on at least one of, at least a portion of the distal region of the fold-back portion, and at least a portion of the fastening component, is at least one fastening zone (17), and
wherein the fastening zone (17) is directed towards the first face of the fixed portion (21b) of the bonding component (A).
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Regarding claim 4, Matsuda discloses the system of claim 1 and further discloses wherein the fastening zone (14) comprises at least one of an adhesive (12, para. [0036]) and a plurality of hooks (17, para. [0042]).
Regarding claim 6, Matsuda discloses the system of claim 1 and further discloses wherein the fastening zone (14) is attachable to a substrate (fig. 7, para. [0072]).
Regarding claim 8, Matsuda discloses the system of claim 1 and further discloses wherein the fastening zone (14) is disposed on at least a portion of the second face (C) of the fastening component (annotated fig. 1b).
Regarding claim 10, Matsuda discloses the system of claim 1 and further discloses wherein the fixed portion (2) and the fold-back portion (2a) are a single continuous piece (fig. 1b).
Regarding claim 13, Matsuda discloses the system of claim 1 and further discloses wherein disposed upon at least a portion of the first face (B) of the fixed portion (14) of the bonding component is at least one of a plurality of hooks (17, fig. 1b) and an adhesive.
Regarding claim 24, Matsuda discloses an article comprising a substrate upon which is attached the fixation system according to claim 1 (fig. 7, para. [0072]).
Regarding claim 25, Matsuda discloses the article according to claim 24, wherein the fastening zone attaches the fixation system to the substrate (fig. 7, para. [0072]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15-23, 26, 28-32 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: there is no prior art alone or in combination that discloses a fixation system with the specific structures required in claim 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15-23. Simply put, Matsudo lacks the required structures for example, secondary fold-back portions, extension components, release materials on the first face of a fastening component, and anti-flagging zones. Duplicating, splitting, are combining the elements Matsudo teaches to match the claimed invention would be requiring overwhelming hindsight and without the prior art that teaches such structure or supply a motivation; for such a change would not have been obvious.
Regarding claims 26 and 28-32, the fixation system Matsudo teaches no longer reads on the claimed invention. The narrowed language of these claims specifies the context of the fixation system in terms of where it’s located in an article, the type of article used, and how the fixation system is used in the system renders Matsudo obsolete here. Although Matsudo is within the relevant realm of absorbent articles like the claimed invention, Matsudo is describing an external fixation system for rolling up the article prior to disposal. The interpretation of Matsudo was deemed appropriate for independent claim 1 because the language was not specific enough to rule out such a fixation system that Matsudo does support. Even when evaluating absorbent articles more similar to the claimed invention—a three-part hybrid absorbent article system—the prior art does not reflect the claimed fixation system. Coates (US 20150065979 A1) discloses a diaper with an outer shell, a pocketed sling, and a removable sorbent article the user can replace as needed. The fixation system of Coates is not similar to the claimed invention wherein a folded back portion of the pocket/sling fixes itself to the inserted absorbent substrate; rather, Coates uses an elastic-lined opening to secure the absorbent insert. Trying to combine Coates with Matsudo would be illogical because Matsudo is teaching the type of fixation structure in a setting that is not easily manipulatable to add to Coates. Furthermore, Coates already has its own method of securing the absorbent insert, so changing that method without having a teaching of the appropriate fixation system would not have been obvious.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIN A KIM whose telephone number is (703)756-4738. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm (EST).
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/ERIN A KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 3781
/SUSAN S SU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3781 2 September 2026
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