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 .
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, 2, 8-9, 11 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao et al. (TW 202423797) (Liao) (cited by applicant) in view of Koefelda et al. (US 7252196) (Koefelda) and Muramatsu (US 5851045).
Liao discloses a container, comprising: a main body (box body 1) including a bottom wall (13), a surrounding wall (side wall 11) that surrounds and extends upwardly from a periphery of said bottom wall, and a protrusion edge (vertical wall of recess of first fitting unit 61 as shown in Fig. 5) that extends downwardly from said bottom wall, said bottom wall and said surrounding wall cooperatively defining an accommodation space (box space 31) that opens upwardly, said bottom wall and said protrusion edge cooperatively defining a limitation groove (first fitting unit 61) that opens downwardly and that is located under said accommodation space; and a cover unit (cover 5) separably disposed on said main body to close said accommodation space, and including a cover body, a protrusion wall (peripheral lip of cover 5) that extends from and surrounds a periphery of said cover body, and that cooperates with said cover body to define a recess (fitting groove 54) opening upwardly, and a plurality of protrusion blocks (second fitting unit 63) that are located in said recess and that extend upwardly from said cover body. Liao fails to disclose that the protrusion blocks are (1) tapered (or extend upwardly from the cover body in a tapered manner) and (2) have a cylindrical body. Koefelda teaches a bottle crate with cover having upwardly extending tapered projections 37 (see Fig. 1, 7, 8) and because of the circular profile of these projections 37, the projections would also be described as having a cylindrical body. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the shape of the protrusion blocks to be tapered by replacing the “H” shaped protrusion blocks of Liao with the tapered-conical-cylindrical shaped protrusion blocks of Koefelda to provide an easier alignment process when the protrusion blocks are being aligned with stacking structures during stacking because the tapered surface acts to guide the alignment.
The resulting structure of each of said plurality of protrusion blocks of said cover unit has a cylindrical body portion that extends upwardly from said cover body, and a round body portion that extends upwardly from said cylindrical body portion, and that tapers gradually from bottom to top. However, the cylindrical body portion of Koefelda’s protrusion block fails to maintain a same diameter from top to bottom. Muramatsu teaches a window frame attachment with a positioning member 17 with a cylindrical projection 19 which is placed within a U-shaped cutout 9 for establishing proper alignment. The cylindrical projection or Muramatsu has a proximal base portion or cylindrical body which maintains a same diameter from top to bottom and a distal end portion that is conical or tapered (see column 4, lines 19-46). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the shape of the protrusion blocks of Koefelda to have a cylindrical body that maintains a same diameter from top to bottom to provide a vertical surface that matches a vertical surface of a mating part when the parts abut during vertical stacked configuration such that contact will be spread over a surface rather than being concentrated at a particular point to avoid a stress concentration and damage that may result in broken or damaged protrusion blocks.
Re claim 2. said surrounding wall of said main body has four side wall portions and four curved connection wall portions, said side wall portions are connected to each other, and are arranged in pairs, and in each of said pairs, said side wall portions face and are spaced apart from each other, and said curved connection wall portions each are connected between two adjacent ones of said side wall portions.
Re claim 8, after said cover unit is separated from said main body (whether separated or attached the stacking relationship is capable, Fig. 5 shows the stacking with the cover unit of the bottom container attached to a body), said main body (top container) can be stacked on said cover unit (bottom container), and said protrusion edge of said main body is disposed around and engages (Fig. 5 discloses contact between the protrusion blocks and the protrusion edge) at least a portion of said plurality of protrusion blocks.
Re claim 9, said protrusion edge is located in said recess, and said plurality of protrusion blocks extend into said limitation groove (both conditions shown in Fig. 5).
Re claim 11, the container is adapted to be stacked with another container (Fig. 5 configuration), the another container (bottom container) including a cover unit that defines a recess and that has a plurality of protrusion blocks located in the recess, wherein when said container (top container) is stacked on the another container (bottom container), said protrusion edge of said container is located in the recess of the cover unit of the another container, and at least a portion of the plurality of protrusion blocks of the cover unit of the another container extend into said limitation groove of said container.
Re claim 12, said protrusion edge of said container (top container in Fig. 5) is disposed around and engages at least a portion of the plurality of protrusion blocks of another container (bottom container).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao in view of Koefelda and Muramatsu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Braude et al. (US 2022/0002033) (Braude).
Liao discloses that the main body bottom wall has a plate wall portion (horizontal portion of bottom wall). Liao fails to disclose the fillet corner portion. Braude teaches a bottom wall with a fillet corner portion (see at 12 the fillet between bottom plate 9 and side wall 29). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to add the fillet corner portion to strengthen the bottom wall to side wall juncture or joint to prevent local bending or collapse when this region hits a hard surface such as the ground or a table.
Claim(s) 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao in view of Koefelda and Muramatsu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Conroy (US 4192434).
Liao discloses said main body further includes an engagement portion (insertion slot 14 shown in Fig. 5 and 6) that extends outwardly from a top edge of said surrounding wall and that surrounds said surrounding wall, said protrusion wall of said cover unit is formed with a groove (groove that has outer wall with second rib 53) that recesses upwardly, that opens downwardly and that surrounds said cover body. However, Liao fails to disclose the protrusion ribs. Conroy teaches a similarly constructed cover to main body engagement portion joint with a main body engagement portion 18 that extends outwardly from a top edge of said surrounding wall and that surrounds said surrounding wall, said protrusion wall of said cover unit is formed with a groove (groove with inner wall 32 and outer wall 40) that recesses upwardly, that opens downwardly and that surrounds said cover body, and said cover unit further includes a plurality of protrusion ribs (ribs 46 and 48, see Fig. 3-5) that extend from said protrusion wall (extend from inner wall 32 of protrusion wall), and that are spaced apart from each other in said groove (see Fig.3-5), each of said plurality of protrusion ribs cooperating with said protrusion wall to define an intervening space therebetween (the intervening space is exactly as in the invention between ribs 46 and 48 on the inner wall 32 and outer wall 40), said engagement portion extending into said intervening spaces that are defined by said plurality of protrusion ribs and said protrusion wall and engaging said plurality of protrusion ribs and said protrusion wall. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to add the protrusion ribs to provide a tight fit of the cover unit to prevent inadvertent opening and spillage.
The modified combination with the protrusion ribs of Conroy discloses the structure of claims 5:
For claim 5, said protrusion wall of said cover unit has an inner wall portion (32 of Conroy, see Fig. 3-4) that extends upwardly from said periphery of said cover body, a top wall portion (26 of Conroy, see Fig. 3-4) that extends outwardly from said inner wall portion, and an outer wall portion (24 and 40 of Conroy, see Fig. 3-4) that extends downwardly from a periphery of said top wall portion, and that surrounds said inner wall portion, said inner wall portion cooperating with said top wall portion and said outer wall portion to define said groove, and each of said plurality of protrusion ribs (46, 48) extends from said inner wall portion toward said outer wall portion, and is spaced apart from said outer wall portion to define said intervening space therebetween.
Re claim 6, said main body of Liao further includes a protrusion seat (screening wall 2 as shown in Fig. 1-6) that extends from and is disposed around an outer surface of said surrounding wall (as shown in Fig. 4 and 6), that is located under said engagement portion (the protrusion seat has a lower, horizontal wall extending from surrounding wall to a vertical wall, see Fig. 6 and see Fig. 4 where end walls 211 and stoppers 21 are located), that defines a gap (gap defined by space between end walls 211 in Fig. 1-4), said container further comprising an anti-opening member (swinging part 22 in Fig. 1-4) that is separably disposed in said gap of said main body, said protrusion seat and said anti-opening member blocking a bottom portion of said protrusion wall of said cover unit, and said anti-opening member is separable (all of first flexible portions 25 and second flexible portions 26 can be broken such that swinging part 22 can be removed) to expose said gap.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao in view of Koefelda and Muramatsu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Clark (US 5083674).
The combination fails to disclose a handle. Clark teaches a swinging bail handle that has two ends and that is pivotally connected to said main body with said ends. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to add the handle to provide easier one-hand lifting and pouring with a swinging bail handle.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejections of claims have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejection have been made.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN J CASTELLANO whose telephone number is (571)272-4535. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday.
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, Nathan Jenness can be reached at 571-270-5055. 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.
sjc/STEPHEN J CASTELLANO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3733
Prosecution Insights