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 .
This action is written in response to application number 18/996,050 filed 01/17/2025
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, 8-12, 14 and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Elkind et al. (US 2019/0344937).
Claim 1. Elkind discloses a box, in particular a snus box, with child-proof safety opening (abstract) and comprising:
a container 100, which defines a housing chamber and comprises an open upper end, an inner side wall laterally delimiting the housing chamber, a lower wall delimiting the housing chamber at the bottom, and an outer side wall arranged around the inner side wall and at a given distance from the inner side wall (see annotated figure below);
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a lid 102, which is coupled to the container to close the open upper end and laterally has a cavity (see annotated figure below);
wherein the outer side wall 16 has at least one interruption (fig. 3);
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at least one locking element 208, which is arranged in the area of the interruption of the outer side wall of the container 100 and supports a tooth 338, which is configured to be inserted into the cavity of the lid (fig. 3A, B);
wherein the locking element 208 is connected to the inner side wall of the container to move between an active position (fig. 2), in which the tooth 338 is inserted in the cavity 342 of the lid, and a deactivated position, in which the tooth is completely on the outside of the cavity of the lid ([0027], [0037-0038]);
wherein the cavity of the lid faces the outer side wall (fig.3B); and
wherein the locking element moves the tooth from the inside of the box towards the outside of the box when it is moved from the active position to the deactivated position, so as to extract the tooth from the cavity of the lid (fig. 3A,B).
Claims 8-9. Elkind disclose the box according to claim 1 comprising a perpendicular second connection element (arrow), which connects, in a rigid manner and without permitting relative movements, the inner side wall of the container to the outer side wall of the container (fig. 9).
Claim 10. Elkind discloses the box according to claim 8, wherein the second connection element is interrupted only in the area of the locking element (fig. 8).
Claim 11. Elkind discloses the box according to claim 1, wherein the lid has, at the bottom, a wedge-shaped body (@ arrow), which is arranged under the cavity, is located between the inner side wall of the container and the outer side wall of the container and has a thickness increasing towards the cavity (fig. 2).
Claim 12. Elkind discloses the box according to claim 1, wherein each tooth (11) has, in cross section, a rectangular shape with rounded corners (fig. 3B).
It is noted that it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to change the prior art shape to have a rectangular and rounded shape, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the shape of a component. A change in shape is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Dailey 357 F.2d 669, 149 USPQ 47 (CCPA 1966) MPEP 214.04 IV B
Claim 14. Elkind discloses the box according to claim 1 comprising a stop system (perpendicular wall to 342), which prevents the locking element from moving from the active position to the deactivated position when the lid is not in an angular opening position relative to the container, namely which allows the locking element to move from the active position to the deactivated position only when the lid is in the angular opening position relative to the container (fig. 3B).
Claims 17-18. Elkind discloses the box according to claim 14, wherein the angular opening position of the lid relative to the container is signaled by the alignment between at least one cursor (hinge end attachment points) arranged on the lid and at least one cursor (recess end attachment points in the surrounding flange) arranged on the container (fig. 1B, 2A).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, 13 and 15-16 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAVEN COLLINS whose telephone number is (571)270-1672. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am to 5:00pm EST.
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/RAVEN COLLINS/ Examiner, Art Unit 3735
/Anthony D Stashick/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3735
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