COM-PAC FOUNDER RECEIVES PACKAGE PATENT

June 03, 2023, Carbondale, IL – Com-Pac International, Inc. Founder and President, Gregory S. Sprehe received notification of the approval of a patent application that had been filed for in October of 2018.  The patent awarded to Mr. Sprehe as the inventor is for a Child-Resistant Reclosable Zipper and Package Assembly, designed for use to contain items that are unsuitable for children such as medications, cannabis, or other toxic substances.

“The benefit of a child-resistant zipper bag is that such a bag is much more user-friendly than a hard plastic or glass container which have protective lids that tend to be very difficult even for adults and particularly seniors to open.  A bag also offers an attractive format for retail branding and printing in full-color, high-definition marketing graphics and logos, product ingredients and directions for use.  A bag format also offers a greener and more cost-efficient alternative to rigid containers because it requires significantly less material and are lighter to ship,” said Mr. Sprehe.  “Until now, there have been zipper bags that are child-resistant when they are initially filled and sealed but once opened, the zipper did not restrict access by kids.  Because our new bag zips closed like a regular zipper bag but requires the dexterity that most young children do not have to re-open it, you get the convenience of resealability with the protection of child-resistance,” Mr. Sprehe continued.

Com-Pac plans to market the new bags first to private-label customers in a stand-up pouch format which will be filled with their own products which require child-resistant packaging, and soon thereafter will offer a variety of sizes which may be purchased from retailers for household use.

This is Mr. Sprehe’s fourteenth patent on flexible packaging products and machinery, some of which are domestic and some international, and he shared that the patent process is becoming very burdensome and costly, and that it’s difficult for small businesses to afford the time and monetary expenses for research, legal, and infringement defense costs associated with applying for and maintaining a patent.  “Also, if a patent is particularly novel and useful, its likely going to get the attention of a foreign entity like China that doesn’t respect our patent laws who will develop a cheaper, knock-off copy and market it on-line in the US anyway”, Mr. Sprehe added.

Com-Pac International is a private, family company owned by Mr. Sprehe and his bother-in-law, Don Wright, and manufactures flexible packaging products for the medical and laboratory specimen handling industries and markets them under several Com-Pac brand names as well as for private label customers.  Additionally, Com-Pac manufactures private label packaging products for fresh-cut produce, frozen foods, stand-up pouch closures and food storage bags.  Com-Pac will celebrate 34 years of business this coming November employs nearly 250 workers in Carbondale’s industrial park.

More information can be found at:

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/5e/23/33/c35ede648b9f1a/US11407562.pdf