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 Species IV (claims 1, 4, 8, 10, 12-16, 21-25) in the reply filed on 2/17/2026 is acknowledged.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. Applicant has not complied with one or more conditions for receiving the benefit of an earlier filing date under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) as follows:
The later-filed application must be an application for a patent for an invention which is also disclosed in the prior application (the parent or original nonprovisional application or provisional application). The disclosure of the invention in the parent application and in the later-filed application must be sufficient to comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, except for the best mode requirement. See Transco Products, Inc. v. Performance Contracting, Inc., 38 F.3d 551, 32 USPQ2d 1077 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
The disclosure of the prior-filed applications, Application No. 29/946,015, 29/945,981, 29/946,022, 29/946,039, fails to provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for one or more claims of this application. The prior-filed applications fails to provide support for a bag assembly comprising at least two bags. Accordingly, claims 1, 4, 8, 10, 12-16, 21-25 are not entitled to the benefit of the prior applications.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because of the use of heavy shading. Note that Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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, 8, 10, 12-16, 21-23, 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2013/0333996 to Selvi in view of US 2004/0084269 to Wang.
Regarding claim 1, Selvi discloses a bag assembly (Fig 8) comprising a first bag (218) comprising a top surface (223), bottom surface (222), front surface, back surface (226) and plurality of side surfaces (227) arranged to form an enclosed interior region for storing items, a first handle assembly (220) comprising a first handle (220) and first plurality of support members (242) attached to first handle, wherein the first handle assembly is positioned external to the enclosed interior region of the first bag and along back surface (226) of first bag, a first connector assembly (231) comprising a first external strap with a single connecting fastener (236) attach to first external strap, a second bag (217) with a greater length, height and/or width than first bag or larger storage volume than first bag (Fig 9), the second bag comprising a top surface (223), bottom surface (222), front surface, back surface (226) and plurality of side surfaces (227) arranged to form an enclosed interior for storing items of equipment in second bag, second handle assembly (220) comprising a second handle and second plurality of support members (242) attached to second handle, wherein second handle assembly is positioned external to enclosed interior region of second bag and along back surface (226) of second bag (217), a second connector assembly (230) with a different configuration or arrangement of connectors than first connector assembly, the second connector assembly comprising a first fastener (234) provided along a surface of the second bag and a second external strap (231) with a second fastener (236) attached to second external strap (Fig 9), wherein the first fastener (234) is configured to engage the connecting fastener (236) attached to the first external strap (231) of the first bag (218) to detachably couple the second bag to the first bag. Selvi does not teach the connector assembly provided along top surface of the bag. However, Wang discloses bag assembly (Fig 1) and in particular discloses connector assembly (11) connecting two bags (10, 20), the connector assembly provided along top surface of the bags. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to rearrange the connector assembly of Selvi such that they were provided along top surfaces of the bag as suggested by Wang in order to facilitate connection. The modification would have resulted in the first external strap configured to extend under the second handle and between second plurality of support members to facilitate coupling between connecting fasteners of the first and second bags since it has the structure as recited as well as Wang teaching the connector going under the handle (Fig 1).
Regarding claim 4, the modified Selvi teaches the assembly of claim 1 and further teaches the connecting fastener (236) extendable towards top surface of the second bag (217) to facilitate a coupling between connecting fastener and first fastener (234) of second bag since it has the structure as recited.
Regarding claim 8, the modified Selvi teaches the assembly of claim 1 and further teaches first fastener oriented towards back surface of second bag and towards front surface of the first bag when the first fastener is secured to connecting fastener (Fig 1, Wang).
Regarding claim 10, Selvi further teaches second connector assembly of second bag (217) includes different number of connectors (two) than first connector assembly of first bag (one).
Regarding claim 12, the modified Selvi teaches the assembly of claim 1 but does not teach a third bag. However, Selvi discloses a different assembly (Figs 4-5) where there are three bags (17-19). One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to incorporate a third bag to the Selvi assembly in order to attach more luggage.
Regarding claim 13, the modified Selvi further teaches third bag comprising same type of bag as first/second bag (luggage, Figs 4-5).
Regarding claim 14, the modified Selvi teaches the assembly of claim 13 and further teaches third bag (17-19, Fig 4-5) comprising a third handle and support members attached to third handle (Figs 4-5), third connector assembly comprising third fastener (230) provided along top surface of third bag. In particular, Selvi teaches connection to a third bag which would have same connector assembly as the second bag and moving the connector assembly from the side surface to the top surface as taught by Wang would have resulted in the third fastener provided along top surface. Furthermore, second external strap of second bag would be configured to extend under the third handle and between the support members to facilitate coupling as shown by Wang (Fig 1).
Regarding claim 15, the modified Selvi further teaches the third bag sized and/or shaped differently than first/second bag (Figs 4-5).
Regarding claim 16, the modified Selvi further teaches second fastener configured to engage third fastener to detachably couple third bag to second bag (Figs 4-5, Selvi).
Regarding claim 21, the modified Selvi teaches the assembly of claim 1 and further teaches second handle (21, Wang) positioned over first external strap (11) when first and second bags are connected.
Regarding claim 22, the modified Selvi further teaches second handle accessible and upwardly deployable while first bag is connected to second bag since the second handle is above the strap.
Regarding claim 23, the modified Selvi further teaches second handle configured to keep first external strap in predetermined position and control or modulate a routing of the first external strap between first and second bag since it has the structure as recited.
Regarding claim 25, Selvi further teaches second external strap or first external strap having an adjustable length (€0078).
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Selvi in view of Wang and US 2023/0100922 to Lynch et al. (Lynch).
Regarding claim 17, the modified Selvi teaches the assembly of claim 16 but does not teach third connector assembly having a different configuration or arrangement of connectors than first connector assembly. However, Lynch discloses a container assembly (Fig 1) and in particular discloses third connector assembly (14) being different from first connector assembly (20). One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have the connectors of Selvi in different configuration as suggested by Lynch if one only desired three containers in the assembly.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Selvi in view of Wang and US 2021/0145138 to Salek.
Regarding claim 24, Selvi teaches the assembly of claim 1 but does not teach the straps having a fixed length. However, Salek discloses a bag assembly (Fig 1) and in particular discloses strap (26) of fixed length (€0034). One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to substitute the adjustable length of the Selvi straps to be fixed as suggested by Salek in order to remove the need for a length adjuster if such an adjuster was not desired.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT POON whose telephone number is (571)270-7425. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday, 8:30 am to 6:00 pm.
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, Anthony Stashick can be reached at (571)272-4561. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ROBERT POON/Examiner, Art Unit 3735