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 .
Detailed Action
Previous Rejections
Applicants' arguments, filed 12/10/25, have been fully considered. Rejections and/or objections not reiterated from previous office actions are hereby withdrawn. The following rejections and/or objections are either reiterated or newly applied. They constitute the complete set presently being applied to the instant application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 5, 10-13 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anonymous: "Avipel Bird Repellent Seed Treatment Product Info, Arkion, 28 November 2016, pages 1-2, XP055584032, Retrieved from the Internet: URL:https://web.archive.org/web/20161 128080246/http:// www.arkionls.com/av/product-info.html) in view of (S Mariselvi ET AL: "Phytochemical Screening and XRD Analysis of Black Pepper Piper nigrum", International Journal of Current Advanced Research, vol. 6, no. 7, July 2017, pages 4992-4994, XP055584348), Ballinger et al. (US PG Pub. 2018/0125096A1) and (Anonymous: "Ornaway Bird Repellent Gel", SAFETY DATA SHEET, 28 June 2017, pages 1-7, XP055584343, Retrieved from the Internet: URL:https:/Awww.barrettineenv.co.uk/uploads/assets/Documents/MSDS/ ORNAWAY%20BIRD%20REPELLENT%20GEL%20rev%201 .pdf) and Desmedt et al. (WO 2019/122107A1) and further in view of (JP 4187390, JP’390).
Avipel reference discloses the treatment of seeds, such as corn seeds, with a composition comprising anthraquinone, which the reference states is "an organic chemical that occurs naturally in at least 94 known plant species" (page 1), one of which is actually known to be Piper nigrum (see Mariselvi et al. : abstract and Table 1).
Mariselvi teaches that anthraquinone is a component of black pepper extracts.
Ballinger et al. teaches that a variety of bird repellents have been previously described and are suitable for use herein, and include but are not limited to anthraquinones, flutolanil, anthranilates, see [0065].
Safety data teaches that black pepper extracts are effective bird repellents (the whole document, esp. section 3.2, page 2).
Desmedt teaches method of controlling bacterial or fungal infections in plants by applying to the plant or seed of the plant by coating piperine, see claims 1, 10-11 and 14 and figure 1.
JP’390 discloses pest repellent for stored grains, see title.
The reference teaches that black pepper oleoresin and lemongrass oil were found to have excellent repellent performance against stored grain pests, and were confirmed to have a sufficient fungicidal effect, thereby completing the present invention, see [0005]. The reference teaches that Black pepper and white pepper are seeds taken from the same plant (Pepperaceae; Pipe nigrum L), and are classified according to the difference in maturity. When it is used industrially, it is more efficient to use the extract than the state of pepper seeds, so the pepper extract was obtained and screened. There are two types of extracts available: oil and oleoresin. As a result of screening each extract of black pepper and white pepper, oleoresin of black pepper has the strongest repellent and antifungal properties of stored grain pests, see [0007].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have utilized black pepper extract to coat corn seeds in place of anthraquinone to make it a viable plant propagation material and to use black pepper extracts in place of anthraquinone as taught by Mariselvi, Ballinger, Safety data and Desmedt to treat seeds to provide a bird-repellent effect. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to do so because Mariselvi teaches that anthraquinone is a component of black pepper extracts, Ballinger et al. teaches that a variety of bird repellents have been previously described and are suitable for use, and include but are not limited to anthraquinones, Safety data teaches that black pepper extracts are bird repellents and Desmedt teaches coating of a seed with piperines and JP’390 teaches that black pepper oleoresin and lemongrass oil were found to have excellent repellent performance against stored grain pests. Thus, based on the combined teachings of the references discussed above, it would have been obvious to coat a plant seed with oleoresin, a black pepper extract, which has been known in the art to be an excellent repellent.
Claims 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anonymous: "Avipel Bird Repellent Seed Treatment Product Info, Arkion, 28 November 2016, pages 1-2, XP055584032, Retrieved from the Internet: URL:https://web.archive.org/web/20161 128080246/http:// www.arkionls.com/av/product-info.html) in view of (S Mariselvi ET AL: "Phytochemical Screening and XRD Analysis of Black Pepper Piper nigrum", International Journal of Current Advanced Research, vol. 6, no. 7, July 2017, pages 4992-4994, XP055584348), Ballinger et al. (US PG Pub. 2018/0125096A1) and (Anonymous: "Ornaway Bird Repellent Gel", SAFETY DATA SHEET, 28 June 2017, pages 1-7, XP055584343, Retrieved from the Internet: URL:https:/Awww.barrettineenv.co.uk/uploads/assets/Documents/MSDS/ ORNAWAY%20BIRD%20REPELLENT%20GEL%20rev%201 .pdf) and Desmedt et al. (WO 2019/122107A1), in view of (JP 4187390, JP’390) and further in view of Yaralian et al. (USP 4,455,304).
The references discussed above do not teach use of garlic extract.
In respect of mixtures of black pepper and garlic extracts, the repellent effect of garlic, also in combination with cayenne pepper (not related to Piper plants), is taught in Yaralian et al.(claims and examples). Thus, in the absence of any surprising (over additive) effect, the combination of black pepper and garlic is considered a mere juxtaposition and obvious for the skilled person. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have utilized garlic extract as bird repellent along with pepper extract motivated by the teachings of Yaralian et al.
Applicant’s arguments are moot in view of new rejections made above necessitated by claim amendments.
Action is final
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.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SNIGDHA MAEWALL whose telephone number is (571)272-6197. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 8:30 AM to 5PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sahana S. Kaup can be reached at 571-272-6897. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SNIGDHA MAEWALL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1612
Prosecution Insights