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 § 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) 1-4 and 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR200496413Y1) and further in view of Del Din (US20220211161A1).
Regarding claim 1 Lee teaches a two-part container, comprising (fig.2 shows the two-part container):
an outer container (see annotated fig.2 below for the outer container); and
an inner container (see annotated fig.2 below),
wherein the outer container includes a mouth thereof and extends in a circumferential direction (see annotated fig.2 below for the mouth and the outer surface of the outer container),
the inner container includes an accommodating portion configured to accommodate contents, an upper-end flange that extends outward from an upper end of the accommodating portion, and a hanging portion that hangs downward from an outer edge end of the upper-end flange (see annotated fig.2 below for the inner container including accommodating portion capable of contain contents and an upper end flange extending outwards from the upper end of the portion and a hanging portion that hangs downward from an outer edge of the flange),
an opening is formed in the hanging portion, and the hanging portion includes an engagement piece that elastically deforms within an opening region of the opening in a view from an outer surface of the hanging portion (see annotated fig.2 below for the opening in the hanging portion, claim does not specify through opening or not, and includes a engagement piece that elastically deforms with an opening region of the opening in a view from an outer surface of the hanging portion). Lee does not teach wherein outer container includes a projection formed on an outer surface and a part of the engagement piece contacts a lower surface of the projection, thereby preventing engagement between the outer container and the inner container from being released, upon attachment of the inner container to the outer container.
Del Din does teach wherein outer container includes a projection formed on an outer surface and a part of the engagement piece contacts a lower surface of the projection, thereby preventing engagement between the outer container and the inner container from being released, upon attachment of the inner container to the outer container (fig.8 shows the outer container 20 with a projection 23 formed on the outer surface of the container in the groove 24C and a part of the engagement piece 8A in fig.7 contacts the lower surface of the projection 23 to prevent the container from being released). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the outer container disclosed by Lee by adding the teaching of projection on the outer surface of the container at the mouth as disclosed by Del Din in order to form a rotation-preventing barrier at each recess or groove (for example to retain a bayonet lug of the second locking means), which can be overcome by exerting force exceeding a threshold, due to the flexibility/plastic deformation of the longitudinal tabs during rotational movement.(0039, Del Din)
Annotated fig.2 of Lee
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Regarding claim 2, the references as applied to claim 1 above discloses all the limitations substantially claimed. Lee as modified in claim further teaches wherein the opening has an elongated rectangular shape (fig.2 above shows the opening has an elongated rectangular shape) and has a lateral width of 1 cm or less. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the lateral width of Lee to be 1 cm in order to match the structure of the outer cap and have a friction fit. To modify the size of the package and retainer into the claimed cap would entail a mere change in size of the components and yield only predictable results. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955).
Regarding claim 3, the references as applied to claim 1 above discloses all the limitations substantially claimed. Lee as modified in claim 1 further teaches wherein the outer container includes a groove that extends in the circumferential direction formed on the outer surface of the mouth and on a lower side of the projection (see annotated fig.2 above for the outer container including a groove that extends circumferentially and formed on the outer surface of the mouth and lower side of the projection as modified in claim 1).
Regarding claim 4, the references as applied to claim 3 above discloses all the limitations substantially claimed. Lee as modified in claim 3 further teaches wherein the engagement piece is connected to one end of the opening and extends in a cantilever shape, and a free end of the engagement piece projects to an inner-diameter side of a connected end (see annotated fig.2 above for engagement piece connected to one end of the opening, the top, and extends n a cantilever shape and a free end at the bottom projects to inner diameter side of the connected end when the hanging portion is pushed in).
Regarding claim 8, the references as applied to claim 1 above discloses all the limitations substantially claimed. Lee as modified in claim 1 further teaches wherein the outer container includes a case portion including a bottom and a side wall, and the mouth is a cylindrical mouth positioned on an inner side of the side wall of the case portion (see annotated fig.2 above for the case portion with side wall and bottom wall and the mouth is a cylindrical mouth positioned on the inner side of the side wall i.e. the inside of the mouth).
Regarding claim 9, the references as applied to claim 7 above discloses all the limitations substantially claimed. Lee as modified in claim 7 further teaches wherein the two-part container is threadedly engageable with a cap including a female screw (see annotated fig.2 above for the cap that is threadedly engagement with the cap including female screw).
Regarding claim 10, the references as applied to claim 1 above discloses all the limitations substantially claimed. Lee as modified in claim 1 further teaches a cap engageable with the mouth of the outer container (fig.1 above shows the cap engageable with a mouth of the container).
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over references as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Adams (US5513763A)
Regarding claim 11, the references as applied to claim 10 above discloses all the limitations substantially claimed. Lee as modified in claim 10 does not teach wherein a seal member is provided on an underside of a top surface of the cap.
Adams does teach wherein a seal member is provided on an underside of a top surface of the cap (fig.1 shows the cap 21 with a seal disk 39 underside of the top surface 22). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the cap disclosed by claim 1 by adding the teaching of the seal disk as disclosed by Adams in order to make the cap water-tight.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7 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. Check attached WO 2025146787 A1 which seems pretty close to applicant invention as well.
Conclusion
See PTO-892 for the prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/PRINCE PAL/Examiner, Art Unit 3735
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