DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on June 18, 2026 has been entered. The status of the claims are as follows:
Claims 1, 3-6, 11, 14-20 and 22-25 are pending.
Claims 1 and 14-16 have been amended.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 3-6, 11, 14-15, 17-19 and 22-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1 and 19, the preamble recites “A method for producing a milk permeate powder”, however, it is not clear how the claimed steps produce a “powder” as the last step recited in claim 1 is concentrating and the last step in claim 19 is heating. Therefore, it is not clear how the process steps are able to produce a milk permeate “powder”.
The examiner notes that claim 16 is not included as it comprising a process step that actually produces a powder. Claim 20 is also not included as it recites process steps to produce a powder.
Claims 3-6, 11, 14-15, 17-18 and 22-25 are included as they depend from rejected claims 1 and 19.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Amended claim 1 now includes all the limitations from claims 8, 10 and 25 and therefore claims 8, 10 and 25 do not further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which they depend. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Applicant’s amendments and arguments filed June 18, 2026 were found persuasive to overcome the prior art rejections as set forth in the last Office Action dated May 19, 2025. However, a 112 rejection remains over claims 1, 3-6, 11, 14-15, 17-19 and 22-25 as set forth above.
Claim 16 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 20 is allowed.
The closest prior art is Ur-Rehman, which teaches a process for producing a milk permeate powder comprising obtaining a permeate from skim milk and concentrating the permeate to a desired solids content, and Paquet, which discloses a process of producing a milk by-product and teach injection CO2 into milk.
Ur-Rehman, however, does not teach the use of CO2 in its process and Paquet does not teach a RO step and fails to teach or suggest CO2 injection into a permeate stream. Therefore, it would not have been obvious to concentrate the permeate to a solids content from 10-18% by reverse osmosis while injecting CO2 into the permeate at a rate from about 1.0 to 4.5 L/min of CO2 per one L/min of permeate flowing though a RO unit.
As the prior art fails to teach or suggest the elements of the claims alone, or in combination, the claims contain allowable subject matter over the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHANIE A KOHLER whose telephone number is (571)270-1075. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nikki Dees can be reached on (571) 270-3435. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/STEPHANIE A KOHLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1791
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