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 Group I (1-13) in the reply filed on 12/02/2025 is acknowledged.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “separation line” in claim 8 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 8 recites the limitation " the package container of container 14" in line 1 is unclear how claim 8 depends from claim 14 when claim 14 is a method claim that was not elected in the restriction and the claim 8 is regarding the apparatus claim. For purpose of examination, claim 8 will be depended from claim 1.
Claim 8 recites the limitation “cutting along a separation line” in line 2 is unclear if the separation line is on the webbing or along the cavity. It is unclear how the webbing is being cut and specification does not state that element either and drawings do not show that element. For purpose of examination, the limitation will be interpreted as “cut long the upper surface of the cavity.”
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 1-7,9-13 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: Timm (US20080125721A1) teaches the limitation below and what it does not teach.
Regarding claim 1, Timm a package container comprising (see annotated fig.1 below):
a package body having an open top surface and a bottom surface (see annotated fig.1 below),
a first chamber protruding from the bottom surface of the package body having sidewalls and a closed chamber floor (see annotated fig.1 below for first chamber protruding from the bottom surface from the body and closed chamber floor),
wherein a first cavity is formed by the open the top surface of the body, the sidewalls of the first chamber and the closed chamber floor of the first chamber (see another fig.1 below for the first cavity with top surface and the sidewalls as the cavity protrudes down and the closed chamber floor);
a second cavity comprising the sidewalls of the second chamber and the at least partially open chamber floor (see annotated fig.1 below);
a first removable webbing disposed over the open top surface of the first cavity and the open top surface of the second cavity (fig.1 shows the sheet 22 that is removable and disposed over the top surface); and,
a second removable webbing disposed over the at least partially open chamber floor of the second cavity (fig.1 shows the bottom 82 that is disposed over the open chamber floor). However, Timm does not teach wherein the second chamber protrudes from the bottom surface3 and is adjacent to the open top surface as well as second chamber having closed sidewalls and an open chamber floor. The annotated fig.1 below does disclose a second chamber with a second cavity and floor being partially open from the side but chamber does not protrude from the bottom of the body and does not disclose closed sidewalls with an open chamber. Also, removable webbing being disposed over the partially open chamber floor of the second cavity is not disclosed as well.
Annotated fig.1 of Timm
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Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
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