Appeal No. 2006-0253 2
Application No. 10/336,935
As noted on page 1 of the specification, appellants’ invention relates to reclosable
packaging and in particular to such packaging wherein indicia is provided to indicate the
first opening of the package. A principal object of the invention is to provide an improved
zipper package construction which requires some permanent change of the package
appearance to enable the first opening of the package by a purchaser. The claims on
appeal are readable on the embodiment seen in Figures 1-5 of the application.
Independent claim 1 is representative of the subject matter on appeal and a copy of that
claim can be found in the Appendix to appellants’ brief.
The references relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
Thomas et al. (Thomas) 5,713,669 Feb. 3, 1998
Van Erden 6,212,857 Apr. 10, 2001
Claims 1, 2, 5 and 6 stand rejected under the judicially created doctrine of obviousness-
type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-21 of Van Erden.
Claims 1, 2 and 5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by
Thomas.
Claims 1 and 2 also stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as being anticipated by
Van Erden.
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