The technical field of the present invention relates to a method of providing product information to the user. Product information comprises, in addition to the identifying base label, a folded or flat printed literature either as a removable portion affixed to the exterior of the package, or being placed within the package. The present invention relates to adhesive free printed literature, especially useful for medicinal and pharmaceutical products, although it can be employed advantageously on containers for other products. The present invention also provides means through which the printed literature non-adhesively remains connected to the product container until user desires its removal.
Safety concerns and government regulations, especially concerning the packaging of chemical or pharmaceutical, have led to an increasing need to provide relatively large amounts of information, such as instructions on how the product should be used, what the product is, and safety precautions which should be followed in the use of the product. Particularly, in the case of Pharmaceuticals, it is required that the container of a particular product is properly labeled and the printed literature is easily accessible to the doctor, pharmacist or user. Conventionally, in the prior art, sheet (s) of printed literature are procured from printer, and are furnished in several ways, such as inserts, outserts, or additional leaflets. These can either be supplied within the cartons along with the product or pasted on the container using adhesives.
The oldest and most common method involves merely placing the relevant literature, within a box (referred to as "inserts") along with the container carrying the chemical or pharmaceutical. The placement of inserts within the box is expensive and a cumbersome operation to perform. Also, the additional step of placing the information inside the container leaves open greater possibility that the contents may be tampered with. Yet another shortcoming existing, is the inability to gain access to the printed textual portion of the printed literature quickly and easily.
Another approach for supplying such information is through folded literature that is releasably attached to the face of the container (referred to as "outserts"). They typically accompany the product, and are affixed directly to the container along with the base label, in which the pharmaceutical product is provided. A major shortcoming of this approach is that the printed information may become detached from the container during subsequent handling. Another shortcoming is that the space available on the sheet (s) meant for printed literature is usually small to accommodate the huge amount of required information data, which compel to use smaller fonts. As a result, many times important information is misinterpreted or conveniently ignored because it is difficultly retrievable.

Yet another type is the use of printed literature affixed using permanent adhesives such as hot melt adhesive or pressure sensitive adhesive. However, disadvantage of using adhesives is that the informational materials are inconvenient to remove as there is a possibility of tearing off. Further, it may tend to leave gum-residue on the container. Most of the times, adhesives have been applied in a manner which results in the formation of bubbles, striations and other imperfections in the adhesive layer that are visually discernable and aesthetically unappealing. In addition to above, application of adhesive is not only a costly affair but also require specialized techniques and apparatus.
One of the prior attempts to overcome these problems is to provide the self-adhesive product information system. Usually a wide web of supporting material is used to which printed material is releasably secured by pressure sensitive adhesive. In such cases when multifold leaflets or booklets are used, the adhesive-free part tends to move away from the supporting material and divides the booklet into multiple parts. Further, when used on the cylindrical package or rectangular package in which the label wraps around a corner, it tends to pull out the adhesive bond causing tearing off the folded leaflet
Additionally like above, various kinds of folded labels, tear-off information sheets and the like have been proposed to meet this need. As exemplified in US pat. No. 3,165, 218 relates to the bottle containing label receiving pocket along the sidewall of it, which pocket may be sealed closed to prevent the label from defaced either by a liquid or by accidental removal of the label.
In another arrangement for the holding of a label, as disclosed in US Pat. No. 2,844,893, a separate sleeve is fittable to the container in order to hold the label in position.
PCT WO 97/11003 discloses another arrangement of container where the printed information is securely placed in the pocket formed between the inner wall and the outer wall of the plastic container.
Few more of such attempts have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,273,105 to VanDyke et al.; 3,822,492 to Crawley; 3,926,113 to Steidinger; U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,837 to Mack; U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,608 to Denny et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,563 to Instance; U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,591 to Instance; U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,686 to Instance; U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,161 to Instance; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,938 to Instance and 5,308,119 to Roshkoff. They are examples of labels which have removable portions affixed thereto. However, many of these label assemblies are complex and

expensive to manufacture. In addition, some have informational materials which are difficult to retrieve.
Thus there is needed a method of providing product information in a form which, although free of adhesive, securely attaches to the product container. It is also needed that the printed literature is easily and quickly accessible. The printed literature should be provided in a manner that enables utilization of adequate space for sufficiently large printing that is easily readable. Altogether, there is needed a folded sheet(s) of printed literature, which remains affixed to the container until the customer (doctor, pharmacist, nurses, etc) desires its removal. Finally, all of the above criteria must be accomplished in a manufacturing technique that does not require adhesive application, insures quality, keeps the integrity of the package, and is cost-effective.
The present invention thus relates to product information, and more particularly to an adhesive free printed literature, and method of forming, applying and using them.
In one of the aspect, there is provided, a simplified method of affixing the adhesive free printed literature along the sides of the container through at least one elastic band.
In another aspect, there is provided, an adhesive free printed literature comprising:
(a) sheet(s) of printed literature, and
(b) at least one elastic band as a means for easy affixing.
In another aspect, there is provided, a container supplied with an adhesive free printed literature comprising:
(a) sheet(s) of printed literature, and
(b) at least one elastic band as a means for easy affixing,
wherein the printed literature is affixed along the sides of the container.
In another aspect, there is provided, a method of affixing an adhesive free printed literature to a container, comprising the steps of:
(a) procuring the flat sheet (s) of printed literature from the printer,
(b) folding the sheet(s) of printed literature in the desired manner,
(c) stretching the elastic band to the desired extend,
(d) holding the sheet(s) of printed literature along the sides of the container, and
(e) fastening the elastic band over the sheet(s) of printed literature.

The printed literature described in any of the above aspects may be in the form of, but not limited to, multiple folded leaflet, booklet, coupon or pamphlet. The literature may be printed on either or on both the sides. This would reduce the loss of space due to the adhesive application and provision to make full use of the available printing space.
In another aspect, there is provided, an adhesive free printed literature which can be easily retrieved and read even when the containers are shelved.
The above said container additionally comprise of a base label carrying supplemental product information.
The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the description below. Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description, along with the accompanying drawings and claims.
The present invention is not limited to particular process steps and materials disclosed herein, but are extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understood that terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting.
It is sometimes desirable, or even necessary, for information relating to the pharmaceutical product, for example prescribing requirements, precautions and other patient information, to be removable so that it can be more easily and conveniently read by the user (doctor, pharmacist, nurses etc) of that product. However, when the product information is provided as a separate booklet or packet included in the product container itself, such booklet since not physically attached to the actual product or product container, can become dis-associated from the product or product container during transportation or handling and be lost. On the other side, if the literature is glued to the container using some adhesive, there is a tendency for the adhesive to ooze from beneath the label. Further, to secure the multi-page leaflet to the support web, one or more lines of permanent adhesive are required, that makes the printed literature difficult to open. Adhesive application may further increase stiffness that makes the literature inappropriate for use on highly curved surfaces.
The printed literatures of the present invention provides the easy to access product information system which is non-adhesively attached to a medical product or drug container The present invention allows the easy removal of printed literature from the container. The sheet(s) of

printed literature remain securely attached to the drug container through out the time for which product is shelved. However, whenever required, they can be easily and immediately detached from the container through the elastic band. The use of such provision of supplying product information is advantageous, since it provides a simplified and convenient way of fixing of literatures to the container, to which the user can have easy and quick access. The adhesive free printed literature is also advantageous when excessively large amount of information such as those in the case of antiretroviral products needs to be provided. Two or more literatures supplied in such cases may be easily provided with the product much more conveniently than in case of adhesive fixing. Further, since these literatures are adhesive free, thus complexity of processing steps can be avoided. The printed literature of the present invention can easily be manufactured and applied using conventional cost- effective techniques, known for such purposes.
The printed literature comprises of the sheet (s) of printed literature and the means for easy affixing. In particular, the means for affixing comprises of elastic band through which the label remains affixed to the container until the user desires its removal.
In one of the embodiments, the adhesive free printed literature and container assembly is as disclosed in Figure 1-3.
Fig. 1 shows the flat sheet of printed literature, whereas Fig. 2 shows the folding of the sheet(s) of printed literature in desired manner. Fig. 3 is a view of the printed literature non adhesively affixed to the bottle with the closure. The printed literature comprises of sheet(s) of printed literature and the elastic band. The adhesive free printed literature as shown above may be easily affixed, removed and optionally restored after use.
The sheet (s) of printed literature may comprise of one or multiple sheets, which can be supplied as folded leaflets or can form a booklet with multiple pages that are glued or bound on an edge, if desired. The sheets can be printed either or on both the sides, as per the requirement.
Elastic band can be constructed of any suitable thin flexible material known in art for such purposes and may either be transparent or opaque. In particular the elastic band may either be polymeric or may be prepared from latex.
The packaging container can be of varied nature selected from plastic bottles, cups, metal cans, glass wine bottles, tubular cardboard containers, aerosol spray cans, pharmaceutical containers,

glass jelly jars, plastic jugs, rotationally molded lidded containers for hardware items like screws and such. In particular, it is circular sectioned and in the shape of a jar.
The closure of the container may be of varied shape, size and made up of materials known in the art. However, it is commonly made up of plastic or metallic material. It can be of either twist-on, or screw, or snap-on cap type.
In addition to the printed literature affixed along the sides of the container, there is an additional base label, which is permanently glued to the container. The base label may carry an "identification" of the product (for example, information such as trademark or manufacturer) and/or certain "statutory information" (for example, lot number and expiration date).
While several advantageous embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

WE CLAIM:
1. An adhesive free printed literature comprising:
(a) sheet (s) of printed literature, and
(b) at least one elastic band as a means for easy affixing.

2. The adhesive free printed literature according to claim 1, wherein the printed literature is
affixed along the sides of the container.
3. The adhesive free printed literature according to claim 1, wherein the sheet (s) of printed
literature may be supplied as folded leaflets or in the form of a booklet.
4. The adhesive free printed literature according to claim 1, wherein the sheet (s) of printed
literature is printed on either or on both the sides.
5. The adhesive free printed literature according to claim 1, wherein the elastic band is
polymeric or may be prepared from latex.
6. The adhesive free printed literature according to claim 5, wherein the elastic band is
transparent or opaque.
7. A method of affixing an adhesive free printed literature to a container, comprising the steps
of:

(a) procuring the flat sheet (s) of printed literature from the printer,
(b) folding the sheet(s) of printed literature in the desired manner,
(c) stretching the elastic band to the desired extend,
(d) holding the sheet(s) of printed literature along the sides of the container, and
(e) fastening the elastic band over the sheet(s) of printed literature.
8. An adhesive free printed literature and a method of affixing it to the container as described
and illustrated in the figures herein.