DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-22 are pending in the instant application. Claims 1 and 9 are amended via the amendment filed June 16th, 2026 and claims 4 and 10-22 are withdrawn.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority based on applications KR10-2020-0034422 filed on 03/20/2020, KR10-2020-0147603 filed on 11/06/2020, and KR10-2021-0022715 filed on 02/19/2021. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Withdrawn Rejections
Applicant’s arguments, filed June 16th, 2026, with respect to 102 rejection have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 102 rejection of claims 1-3 and 5-8 has been withdrawn.
Applicant has overcome this rejection by amending claim 1 to remove the option for R6 to represent –(La)a-(Ar1)b.
Response to Remarks
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 102 rejection of claims 1-3 and 5-8 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Restriction/Election
Applicant’s election without traverse of compound C-14 in the reply filed on November 20th, 2024 is acknowledged.
Applicant’s elected species appears free of the prior art. Therefore, the search and examination has been extended according to MPEP 803.02 to include the structural species:
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Since a non-elected species has been found not allowable over the prior art, examination has been limited to claims directed to the elected species, which are presently claims 1-3 and 5-9. Claims 1-3 and 5-9 have been examined to the extent that they are readable on the elected embodiment and the above identified nonelected species. Since the nonelected species has been found not allowable, subject matter not embraced by the elected embodiment or the above identified nonelected species is therefore withdrawn from further consideration.
Claims 4 and 10-22 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention or species. Election was made without traverse in reply filed November 20th, 2024.
New Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 5-8 are newly rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Saito et al (US 2017/0256726 A1, published September 7th, 2017), as necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
Saito teaches the following compound (page 79, compound L3):
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Regarding claim 1, this compound is embraced by instant formula 1, wherein R1-R4 are (C1-C30)alkyl, R5, R12 and R6-R10 are hydrogen and R11 ais –(L1)a-(Ar1)b, wherein L1 is a single bond, a is 1, b is 1, and Ar1 is heteroaryl.
Regarding claim 2, L1 is a single bond and Ar1 is heteroaryl containing one N.
Regarding claim 3, the compound above is of formula (1-2).
Regarding claim 5, L1 is a single bond.
Regarding claim 6, Ar1 is a substituted pyridyl.
Regarding claim 7, Ar1 in the compound above is heteroaryl and as such, the limitations of the claim regarding the (C6-C30) aryl do not apply to the compound, thus the compound reads on the claim.
Regarding claim 8, Ar1 in the compound above is heteroaryl and as such, the limitations of the claim regarding Ar2 and Ar3 of -N-(Ar2)(Ar3) do not apply to the compound, thus the compound reads on the claim.
Conclusion
Claims 1-3 and 5-8 are rejected. Claims 4 and 10-22 are withdrawn. Claim 9 is allowed.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/A.G.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1626
/FEREYDOUN G SAJJADI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1699