Ex Parte Rogaczewski

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jul 16, 2018

14164353 (P.T.A.B. Jul. 16, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
14/164,353 01/27/2014
114208 7590 07/16/2018
Stradley Ronan Stevens & Young, LLP
for Graham Packaging
30 Valley Stream Parkway
Great Valley Corporate Center
Malvern, PA 19355-1481
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Robert Grzegorz Rogaczewski
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
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
184569-3267 1016
EXAMINER
LEYSON, JOSEPH S
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
1744
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
07/16/2018 PAPER
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.
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte ROBERT GRZEGORZ ROGACZEWSKI
Appeal2017-009393
Application 14/164,353
Technology Center 1700
Before ROMULO H. DELMENDO, MARK NAGUMO, and
DEBRA L. DENNETT, Administrative Patent Judges.
DELMENDO, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
The Applicant (hereinafter "Appellant") 1 appeals under 35 U.S.C.
§ 134(a) from the Primary Examiner's final decision to reject claims 1, 4--7,
9, and 15-19.2 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We affirm.
1 The Appellant is the Applicant, "Graham Packaging Company, L.P.,"
which, according to the Brief, is the real party in interest ( Appeal Brief filed
January 20, 2017, hereinafter "Appeal Br.," 3).
2 Appeal Br. 10-17; Reply Brief filed June 26, 2017, hereinafter "Reply
Br.," 3-8; Final Office Action entered September 7, 2016, hereinafter "Final
Act.," 2-17; Examiner's Answer entered May 17, 2017, hereinafter "Ans.,"
2-24.
Appeal2017-009393
Application 14/164,353
I. BACKGROUND
The subject matter on appeal relates to a triple parison flowhead
apparatus for producing objects such as bottles by coextruding multiple
polymeric layers (Specification filed January 27, 2014, hereinafter "Spec.,"
,r,r 2, 5). The Inventor alleges that "[ t ]raditional flowhead design has only
provided for use of a single flowhead or a dual flowhead configuration due
to restrictions on the geometries of the molds based on the size and shape of
the container to be molded and the flowhead itself' (id. ,r 6). The Inventor
states that, by contrast, "the present invention provides for a space-saving,
triple parison flowhead apparatus that is able to simultaneously coextrude
three multi-layer parisons" (id. ,r 8).
Figure 1, which is reproduced from the Drawings filed January 27,
2014, is illustrative of the invention:
G:
FIG.1
2
Appeal2017-009393
Application 14/164,353
Figure 1 above is described as a triple parison flowhead apparatus 1 for
producing three multi-layer parisons 140, 240, and 340 (shown in Fig. 2)
simultaneously, wherein the apparatus 1 has, inter alia: a parison flowhead
100 including a stack of six rings 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, llOe, and llOf; a
parison flowhead 200 including a second stack of six rings 210a, 210b,
210c, 210d, 210e, and 210f; and a parison flowhead 300 including a third
stack of six rings 310a, 310b, 310c, 310d, 310e, and 310f (Spec. ,r,r 16, 24,
and 25). The Specification states that the flowheads 100, 200, and 300 have:
annular flow conduits 122, 222, and 322, respectively, which are defined by
tubes or mandrels 130, 230, and 330, respectively; and ports 114, 214, and
314 (shown in Fig. 2), respectively (id. ,r,r 27, 30). According to the
Inventor, the flowheads 100, 200, and 300 are in direct contact in order to
provide for minimum center-to-center distances between the three flowheads
(i.e., center-to-center distances Cl and C2) (id. ,r 29).
The rings are illustrated in greater detail in Figures 5A and 5B (id.
,r 26), which we reproduce as follows:
1C?
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