Detailed Office Action
The communication dated 5/28/2026 has been entered and fully considered. Claims 4-5 are withdrawn from examination. Claims 1-11 remain pending
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 Invention I (claims 1-3 and 6-11) in the reply filed on 5/28/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 4-5 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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.
Claims 7-11 are 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 7 in line 2 recites the limitation “a protrusion”. This limitation is already recited in the independent claim 1 (line 2) that claim 7 depends on. Therefore, it is not clear that the limitation in claim 7 is the same as that in claim 1 or a different one. As such this claim and its dependent claims 8-11are indefinite and rejected.
Upon careful review of the instant disclosure, the Examiner determined that the protrusion recited in claim 1 refers to numeral 212 in instant FIG. 1 which is a protrusion on the inside surface of the preform at the neck portion. The protrusion in claim 7 refers to numeral 11 in instant FIG. 1 which is part of the blow core. The applicant needs to distinguish between these two protrusions. For example, the limitation in claim 7 can be changed to “lip” or “protruding section” or “another protrusion”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 and 6 are allowed.
A close prior art to the independent claim 1 is YONEZUKA (JP-2022115774-A and its English translation), hereinafter YONEZUKA.
YONEZUKA discloses a mold unit in which a first mold that performs injection molding for molding an intermediate molding product molds a protrusion on an inner surface of a thick portion of the intermediate molding product, and when the intermediate molding product is fitted to a second mold in order to perform blow molding for molding a final molding product from the intermediate molding product {[0002] note injection molding followed by blow molding, thus first and second mold, [FIG. 8(b)] note preform 401 is the intermediate molding product that has protrusions 409 in the area of 408 on an inner surface of the thick portion, [FIG. 9] note the mold core 332 has the recesses 337 that creates the protrusions on the inner surface of the intermediate product}.
YONEZUKA, however, fails to disclose the last limitation of claim 1 reciting “the second mold crushes the protrusion from an inside of the intermediate molding product”.
YONEZUKA maintains these protrusions throughout the process so that the extra thickness provided by protrusion portion 408 can prevent the occurrences of sink marks on the inner surface of the open end 413 in the final molded product 411 resulting in high strength and quality of the final product {[0028], [FIG. 8(a)]}. Therefore, there is no motivation to have crushed these protrusions as recited in the last limitation of claim 1.
The Examiner notes that the advantage of crushing this protrusion as recited and explained in the instant disclosure is that this action smooths the inner surface of the intermediate product without needing extra holding pressure time.
Another close prior art to the independent claim 1 is DE CUYPER (US-2021/0260810), hereinafter DE CUYPER.
DE CUYPER discloses a mold unit in which a first mold that performs injection molding for molding an intermediate molding product molds a protrusion on an inner surface of a thick portion of the intermediate molding product, and when the intermediate molding product is fitted to a second mold in order to perform blow molding for molding a final molding product from the intermediate molding product {[abstract] note injection molding thus the first mold, preform is the intermediate product, [0001] note stretch blow molding that is the second mold, [FIG. 2B] note the recess 18 on the mold core that produces a protrusion on an inner surface of the preform or the intermediate product, [FIG. 7] note protrusion 18 on the inner surface of the preform neck portion 7}.
DE CUYPER, however, fails to disclose the last limitation of claim 1 reciting “the second mold crushes the protrusion from an inside of the intermediate molding product”.
DE CUYPER maintains this protrusion since it assists in holding the insert piece 30 that is used as a pouring spout {[0114]-[0115], [FIGs. 7&8]}. Therefore, there is no motivation to have crushed this protrusion as recited in the last limitation of claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to S. BEHROOZ GHORISHI whose telephone number is (571)272-1373. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-(alt Fri) 7:30-5:00.
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, Abbas Rashid can be reached at 571-270-7457. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/S. BEHROOZ GHORISHI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748
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