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 .
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 and 6-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over House et al. (2012/0255953) in view of Bazis (10,919,679). House discloses most of the limitations of the claims, as indicated more fully below, but does not disclose that the body has a bottom end having a bottom opening and a cap for this opening, as required in claim 1 line 4. Bazis is cited to show that it is conventional for a container of the same general type as that disclosed in House (that also holds products of the same general type as disclosed in House) to have a bottom end having a bottom opening and a cap therefor. It would have been obvious in view of Bazis to provide the container system of House with a bottom end having a bottom opening and cap, to provide the container of House with added convenience by providing it with the ability to store additional items or items related to its intended content in a compartment formed at the bottom of the compartment and accessed through the cap and bottom opening.
As indicated above, House discloses most of the features of the claims including: The container system of House can be package 1. Thus, the claimed body can be container 5. As shown in the reference drawings the body is cylindrical and hollow as claimed and has a top end having a top opening.
The claimed raised ridge system can be one set of ribs 23 that form a maze 21 of intersecting radial and circumferential grooves as most clearly seen in Figs 1 and 4 (however, it is noted that there can be multiple sets of ribs 23 each forming a maze as indicated, and each set spaced equidistantly around the bottle neck as described at the bottom of page 2 left column. Therefore, the claimed ridge system could also be all of the ribs 23 together on one container, not just a single set of ribs 23).
Accordingly, one of the claimed plurality of locking channels can be channels B and C (Fig 4) and another of the claimed plurality of locking channels can be channels D and E (Fig 4). Thus, the entry gap of locking channel B, C can be the entrance into B from channel A and the exit gap of this channel B, C can be the gap leading from C to D. Likewise, the entry gap of locking channel D, E is at the bottom of D (where C meets D) and the exit gap of locking channel D, E is where E exits to F. Thus, as claimed, the entry and exit gaps are laterally and vertically offset from each other. However, since as already indicated, the raised ridge system can be multiple sets of the ribs 23, each forming its own maze, the claimed plurality of locking channels can be any two or more relevant channels each in its own maze (for example only, B, C forming a locking channel in one maze and B, C forming another locking channel of the plurality of locking channels in one or more other mazes, or even B, C, D, E forming one locking channel in one maze and another one or more B, C, D, E forming one or more other locking channels of the plurality of locking channels in other mazes).
The claimed top cap and its protrusions can be closure 15 and its studs 27 respectively.
In view of the above commentary it is believed to be evident how the features of claims 2 and 6-12 are met by House. As already indicated above the combination of Bazis and House meets the bottom cap of dependent claim 13.
Claim(s) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over House and Bazis as applied above, and further in view of Koch (2008/0000792). House discloses an alignment indicator (arrow 50) for the top cap but does not disclose one for the body. Koch is cited to show that it is conventional to have alignment indicators (104, 105) including one on the body of a container system of the general type disclosed in House. It would have been obvious in view of Koch to provide an alignment indicator on the body of House to align with the one on the top cap of House to make it easier to remove the top cap from the body and attach the top cap to the body.
Claims 5 and 14-20 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACOB K ACKUN whose telephone number is (571)272-4418. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 11am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Orlando E. Aviles can be reached at (571) 270-5531. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JACOB K ACKUN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3736
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