Patent ID: 8746484

Claim:
A container having a sealing member for sealing to a rim of the container and for providing a dispensing opening, the container comprising: a container rim surrounding an opening of the container; a sealing member sealed to the container rim and including a flexible sheet of one or more layers having an inner edge defining at least one preformed dispensing opening extending therethrough, the flexible sheet having an upper surface and a lower surface thereof; a cover laminate removably adhered to the upper surface of the flexible sheet, the cover laminate including a polymer support layer and a bonding layer; a seal liner adhered to the lower surface of the flexible sheet; the bonding layer of the cover laminate extending through the at least one preformed dispensing opening to bond the polymer support layer of the cover laminate to the seal liner; gaps on opposite sides of the pre-formed dispensing opening between a wall defining the pre-formed dispensing opening and the bonding layer extending therethrough where one gap at a first side of the pre-formed dispensing opening is smaller than another gap at an opposite side of the pre-formed dispensing opening, at least one of the gaps having at least a portion thereof with a non-vertical boundary; and a ratio of a thickness of the bonding layer to a thickness of the flexible sheet from about 1:1 to about 1:0.25 so that the seal liner cleanly tears through the preformed dispensing opening at the inner edge thereof upon separation of the cover laminate from the flexible sheet such that a portion of the seal liner under the pre-formed dispensing opening is removed with the cover laminate.