CMD CorporationDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardNov 24, 20202020000770 (P.T.A.B. Nov. 24, 2020) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 14/966,412 12/11/2015 Paul A. Selle 6743-00197 8555 26753 7590 11/24/2020 ANDRUS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW, LLP 790 NORTH WATER STREET SUITE 2200 MILWAUKEE, WI 53202 EXAMINER TAWFIK, SAMEH ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3731 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 11/24/2020 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): patentdocketing@andruslaw.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte PAUL A. SELLE, KENNETH C. RADKE, CHARLES H. SAUDER, PAUL A. JOHNSON, CHRISTOPHER L. WHITE, ARVID R. JOHNSON, GREGORY T. PRELLWITZ, MICHAEL J. STICKNEY, THOMAS C. JANSEN, CHRISTOPHER A. SAUCIER, TERRY L. LEIZKE, and BRADLEY J. SCHMOLL Appeal 2020-000770 Application 14/966,412 Technology Center 3700 Before STEFAN STAICOVICI, CARL M. DEFRANCO, and LEE L. STEPINA, Administrative Patent Judges. STEPINA, Administrative Patent Judge. Appeal 2020-000770 Application 14/966,412 2 DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), Appellant1 appeals from the Examiner’s decision to reject claims 7, 8, and 10.2 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We reverse. CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER The claims are directed to a method of making bags that locates perforations close to bag seals without requiring a downstream knife. Spec. 3. Claim 7, reproduced below with emphasis added, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter. 7. A method of making bags comprising: receiving a web; forming a first seal on the web using a seal bar on a rotary drum; forming a weakened area adjacent the first seal for at least a portion of the time the first seal is being formed by providing electric current to a heating wire disposed in a plurality of holes disposed along a line in the cross direction. Appeal Br. 12 (Claims App.). REFERENCES The prior art relied upon by the Examiner is: 1 We use the word “Appellant” to refer to “applicant” as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 1.42. Appellant identifies CMD Corporation as the real party in interest. Appeal Br. 3. 2 Claims 1–6, 9, and 13–15 have been cancelled, and claims 11 and 12 have been withdrawn. Appeal Br. 5. Appeal 2020-000770 Application 14/966,412 3 Name Reference Date Wheeler US 6,486,442 B2 Nov. 26, 2002 Bohn US 6,635,139 B2 Oct. 21, 2003 REJECTION Claims 7, 8, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Bohn and Wheeler. OPINION The Examiner finds that Bohn discloses many of the elements recited in claim 7, including the step of forming a weakened area adjacent a seal, but does not disclose that the weakened area is formed by providing electric current to a heating wire disposed in a plurality of holes along a line in the cross direction. Final Act. 2. To address this deficiency, the Examiner finds Wheeler discloses a similar method that uses electric current in a heating wire disposed in holes along a cross direction. Id. Specifically, the Examiner finds Wheeler discloses “a supporter 100 within which there are holes along the cross direction[, and w]ithin each of the holes is found a heating tool 10, each heating tool 10 having a heating wire 16 disposed therein.” Ans. 4. The Examiner discusses the claim interpretation applied to claim 7 in the rejection, determining that, “in the broadest sense, [in Wheeler,] there is a heating wire disposed in a plurality of holes as required by the claim.” Id. Appellant argues the Examiner erred in finding that Wheeler remedies the deficiency in Bohn because, “at best[, Wheeler] teaches providing a wire disposed in a single hole, not the claimed ‘providing electric current to a heating wire disposed in a plurality of holes disposed along a line in the Appeal 2020-000770 Application 14/966,412 4 cross direction.’” Appeal Br. 10. Appellant expands upon this argument in the Reply Brief, asserting that Wheeler may disclose multiple wires, with each wire located in a single hole, but not one wire extending through multiple holes as required by claim 7. Reply Br. 2. Thus, Appellant implicitly disagrees with the Examiner’s interpretation of claim 7 inasmuch as Appellant’s argument is based upon the premise that claim 7 requires the same wire to pass through multiple holes. The Examiner is correct in finding that Wheeler discloses the use of multiple heating devices 10, each containing its own heating wire (coil 16). See Ans. 4–5; Wheeler Figs. 1, 5. However, under the broadest reasonable interpretation of claim 7 in light of the Specification, a single heating wire must be disposed within a plurality of holes. This interpretation complies with the plain language of claim 7 and is consistent with Appellant’s Figure 15 and the description thereof on page 14 of the Specification, which describes heating wire 1502 as being “woven through the pattern of holes.” Spec. 14:20–24. The Examiner’s unreasonably broad interpretation of claim 7 led the Examiner to err in finding that Wheeler’s disclosure of multiple heating devices 10, each containing its own distinct heating wire, meets the requirement for “a heating wire disposed in a plurality of holes.” The Examiner does not identify any other structure in Bohn and Wheeler that meets this requirement. See Final Act. 2. Accordingly, we do not sustain the rejection of claim 7, and claims 8 and 10 depending therefrom, as unpatentable over Bohn and Wheeler. Appeal 2020-000770 Application 14/966,412 5 CONCLUSION The Examiner’s rejections are reversed. DECISION SUMMARY Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § Basis Affirmed Reversed 7, 8, 10 103(a) Bohn, Wheeler 7, 8, 10 Overall Outcome 7, 8, 10 REVERSED Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation