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 .
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.
Claims 1 and 3-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bellamah (US 8,567,606) in view of St. Charles (US 2010/0018882).
Claim 1
Bellamah discloses a booklet packaging (10) for containing a consumable product, comprising a front cover (24), a back cover (28), and at least one page (12 in combination with blister pack 100) positioned at least partly between the front cover and the back cover, the page comprising at least one receptacle/aperture (34) for containing the consumable product. Bellamah does not disclose any of the front cover or the back cover comprising a waste chamber, as required. However, St. Charles discloses disclose a container (10) for enclosing smokeless tobacco comprising a pouch/onsert (34) attached to the exterior of the container (see figure 7), and wherein the pouch/onsert can be used as a waste chamber for storage of used nicotine pouches (see [0011] and [0059]), the waste chamber comprising a sealable opening (44) for depositing the used nicotine pouches (see [0061]), wherein the sealable opening is accessible from an exterior portion of the container (see figure 9). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bellamah having an external pouch/onsert on the exterior surface of any of the front or back covers as taught by St. Charles for carrying the used nicotine consumable products in case a waste disposal is not available.
Claim 3
Bellamah further discloses the front cover and back cover are foldable with respect to one-another between a closed configuration (see figure 3), in which the front and back covers restrict access to the at least one page, and an open configuration (see figure 1) in which at least one of the front cover and the back cover permits access to the at least one page.
Claim 4
St.Charles further discloses the opening is sealable with a slidable grip seal. St. Charles discloses the pouch/onsert includes a flap (46) that is insertable/slidable into a slot (58) formed in the pouch/onsert (see [0063]).
Claim 5
St.Charles further discloses the sealable opening is biased towards a closed position (see figures 7 and 9).
Claim 6
St.Charles further discloses the waste chamber comprises a leak-proof/waterproof or water impermeable lining, such as waxed paper, foil, or plastic (see [0062]).
Claim 7
Bellamah further discloses a bridge/spine (32) extending between the front cover and the back cover and wherein the at least one page is connected to the bridge (see figures 1 and 3).
Claims 2 and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bellamah (US 8,567,606) and St. Charles (US 2010/0018882) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Stevens (WO 2016065414) and Takeuchi (US 2014/0027325).
Claim 2
Bellamah further discloses the booklet packaging comprises a blister packaging (100) enclosing tablet of nicotine product (see column 1 lines 14-17). Bellamah further discloses each page including plurality of discrete blisters (102) (see column 6 lines 48-52), each blister forming a receptacle with an opening (defined by opening closed by layer 104), each blister being configured to contain a respective one of the plurality of nicotine tablets/consumable products, and a backing layer (104) attached to the dispensing layer and sealing the opening of each blister (see column 6 lines 48-52), the backing layer being rigid, made from foil and paper laminate material, to prevent the pouch from being pushed through. Bellamah discloses the backing layer made from rigid, such as foil and paper laminate material, preventing the nicotine tablets/consumable products to pass the through the backing layer. Bellamah discloses in order to have access to the nicotine tablets/consumable products, the user peel off a portion of paper from the laminate of the backing layer, and then rupture the foil portion of the laminate (see column 6 lines 59-67 and column 7 lines 1-3). Bellamah does not disclose a dispensing layer in the plurality of blisters, and forming an opening, wherein each blister including a portion of mechanical weakness, as required. Bellamah does not disclose the nicotine tablets/consumable products enclosed within pouches, each pouch having a porous external layer surrounding an interior for containing the consumable product, the external layer being non-rigid and the consumable product being compressible. However, regarding the limitation of the dispensing layer, Stevens discloses a package (1) comprising a blister (11) comprising a rupturable/opener portion (19) coupled to the blister and presenting mechanical weakness when external force is applied to the blister (see figures 1, 15 and [0049]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the blisters of Bellamah including a rupturable/opener portion as taught by Stevens for easy access to the contents inside each of the blisters. Regarding the consumable product, Takeuchi discloses a blister package (2) enclosing a pouch (P) containing a consumable product, wherein the pouch comprises a porous non-rigid external layer, such as nonwoven fabric sheet, having compressible tobacco microparticles (SNUS) (see figures 10, 12 and [0041]-[0043]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bellamah replacing the tablets for the pouches enclosed within the blisters as taught by Takeuchi as an alternative type of consumable/nicotine product disposed provided in the blisters, and since both types of nicotine/consumable products are equivalent in the art.
Claim 9
Bellamah further discloses the plurality of discrete blisters extend from a first face (18) of each respective page (see figure 3). Bellamah further discloses the booklet packaging could include a second page similar to the first page (see column 5 lines 31-43).
Claim 10
Bellamah further discloses the dispensing layer is a first dispensing layer and the plurality of discrete blisters is a first plurality of sealed blisters, each page includes a second dispensing layer including a second plurality of discrete blisters. After Bellamah is modified by Stevens, each blister will be configured to contain a respective one of the plurality of pouches, each discrete blister of the second plurality of discrete blisters comprises an opener that ruptures the blister when an external force is applied to the opener, permitting individual sanitary dispensation of the pouches from the page, and
the second plurality of discrete blisters extend from an opposite face of each respective page.
Claim 11
Bellamah discloses each blister (100) including a layer forming the blister (102) and a backing layer (104), wherein the backing layer comprises a laminate, such as combination of laminated paper and foil (see column 6 lines 48-55). Bellamah further discloses the backing layer is attached to the first dispensing layer (defined by layer of first blister 100) and the second dispensing layer (defined by layer of second blister 100). Bellamah discloses each blister package including same components, such as the backing layer, wherein the backing layer of the second blister package is attached to the second dispensing layer as is attached to the first dispensing layer.
Claims 8, 12, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bellamah (US 8,567,606), St. Charles (US 2010/0018882), Stevens (WO 2016065414) and Takeuchi (US 2014/0027325) as applied to claim 2 or 10 above, and further in view of McGonagle (US 2009/0139893).
Claims 8, 12, and 13
Bellamah further discloses a second page similar to the first page (see column 5 lines 31-43), wherein the plurality of discrete blisters of a first page of the at least two pages are positioned in a first array, and wherein the plurality of discrete blisters of a second page of the at least two pages are positioned in a second array. Bellamah discloses multiple blisters, such as column of blisters (see figures 1 and 2), wherein one column of the first and second page could be considered as first and third array of blisters, and a second column of the first and second page could be considered as second and fourth array of blisters. Bellamah does not disclose the first and/or first and third array is offset relative to the second and/or second and fourth array, such that when the pages are layered face to face one-another, the first and/or first and third array and second and fourth array engage between each other to form an overlapping blister layer. However, McGonagle discloses a product package comprising multiple pages (12a and 12b), each comprising plurality of blisters (36a and 36b), wherein when the blisters of the pages are in an arrangement which when facing one to another, engage one to another forming an overlapping blister layer (see figure 2). McGonagle discloses this overlapping arrangement reduces the overall thickness of the product package (see [0079]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Bellamah having the blisters of the first and second pages in overlapping arrangement when facing to each other as taught by McGonagle to reduce the overall thickness of the booklet packaging.
Conclusion
Examiner has cited particular paragraphs and/or columns and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested of the applicant, in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or prior art(s) disclosed by the Examiner (in the attached PTO-892 form).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAFAEL A. ORTIZ whose telephone number is (571)270-5240. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9am - 6pm.
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RAFAEL A. ORTIZ
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3736
/RAFAEL A ORTIZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3736
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