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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-3 and 5-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Olsen et al. (US 2023/0373198 A1).
Re: Claim 1, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including a flexible tube container (70) comprising a tube head (74) and a skirt (72), the skirt being formed from an extruded multilayered tube (Para. 95, extruded), the extruded multilayered tube comprising an inner layer (110) made of polyethylene (Para. 36, polyethylene), an outer layer (101) made of polyethylene (Para. 36, polyethylene) and at least two barrier layers (104, 108), the at least two barrier layers being spaced of at least 40 μm (Para. 63, at least 40 to 127 μm).
Re: Claim 2, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the extruded multilayered tube is exempt from a longitudinal weld or joint or seam (Fig. 3, Para. 100, seamless).
Re: Claim 3, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the at least two barrier layers are spaced by at least one separating layer (105) comprising polyethylene (Fig. 6, Para. 65, polyethylene).
Re: Claim 5, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the at least one separating layer comprises tie-layer resin (Fig. 6, Para. 65, polyethylene).
Re: Claim 6, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the tie-layer resin is an anhydride modified ethylene acrylate resin (Fig. 6, Para. 65, anhydride modified ethylene acrylate resin).
Re: Claim 7, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the at least one separating layer comprises a mixture of polyethylene and tie-layer resin (Para. 65, mixture).
Re: Claim 8, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the at least one separating layer comprises between 60% and 95% of polyethylene (Para. 64, may be 60-95 percent).
Re: Claim 9, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the at least one separating layer comprises between 5% and 40% of tie-layer resin (Para. 64, may be 10-40 percent).
Re: Claim 10, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the at least two barrier layers are made of EVOH with an ethylene content less than 32 mol % (Para. 69, 32 percent).
Re: Claim 11, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the total thickness of the extruded multilayered tube is comprised between 250 and 500 μm (Para. 23, 250 μm).
Re: Claim 12, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the thickness of the separating layer is comprised between 40 and 130 μm (Para. 63, 1-5 Mil or 25 to 127 μm).
Re: Claim 13, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the extruded multilayered tube comprises tie layer (103) between the outer layer and one of the at least two barrier layers and/or between the inner layer and one of the at least two barrier layers (Depicted in Fig. 6).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Olsen et al. (US 2023/0373198 A1) as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Bellmore (US 2024/0308740 A1).
Re: Claim 4, Olsen discloses the claimed invention including the polyethylene of the separating layer except for using HDPE. However, Bellmore teaches a separating layer (120) made of HDPE (Para. 32, hdpe).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to include an HDPE separating layer as taught by Bellmore, since such a modification is known in the art to provide a material with durability, chemical resistance, and ease of manufacturing, and further it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. References cited on the PTO-892 provide additional examples of multilayer containers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES P. CHEYNEY whose telephone number is (571)272-9971. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 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, Paul Durand can be reached at 571-272-4459. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHARLES P. CHEYNEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754
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