Patent ID: 8794836

Claim:
A flexible packaging article comprising a heat-shrinkable multilayer film having an outside surface and an inside surface, a top edge, a bottom edge, a first longitudinal edge, and a second longitudinal edge, the packaging article having an internal volume for containing a product to be packaged, the packaging article further comprising: (A) (i) a first heat seal extending along the first and second longitudinal edges from the top edge to the bottom edge down a length of the packaging article, the first heat seal being a heat seal of (a) a first region of the inside surface to a second region of the inside surface, or (b) the first region of the inside surface to a first region of the outside surface; (ii) a second heat seal extending across a width of the packaging article and providing a bottom of the internal volume, the second heat seal being a heat seal of a third region of the inside surface to a fourth region of the inside surface, the second heat seal crossing the first heat seal, and (iii) a third heat seal extending across the width of the packaging article and providing a top of the internal volume, the third heat seal being a heat seal of a fifth region of the inside surface to a sixth region of the inside surface, the third heat seal also crossing the first heat seal; (iii) a skirt between the second heat seal and the bottom edge, the skirt being outward of the second heat seal; and (B) first and second tear initiators in the skirt, the first tear initiator comprising a first cut through the skirt, and the second tear initiator comprising a second cut through the skirt, with each of the first and second tear initiators having an inward end and an outward end, with the inward end being closer to both the first heat seal and the second heat seal than the outward end, and the outward end being closer to the bottom edge than the inward end, with the first and second tear initiators being positioned relative to the first heat seal so that a superimposed straight line extending through the inward and outward ends of each tear initiator intersects a superimposed straight line extending through the ends of the first heat seal at a lesser included angle of from 25 degrees to 55 degrees, with the inward end of each of the first and second tear initiators terminating at a location which is from 3 to 30 millimeters from the first heat seal and 3 to 50 millimeters from the second heat seal, and wherein the heat shrinkable film exhibits an Elmendorf tear strength in a machine direction of from 0.7N to 2N before shrinking.