DETAILED ACTION
Any rejections and/or objections made in the previous Office action and not repeated below are hereby withdrawn.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office Action.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 Apr. 28, 2026 has been entered.
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 .
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. § 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 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.
Claims 27-30 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2018/0050130 A1 (herein “Jiang”).
As to claims 27-30: Jiang describes hydrogels (see ¶¶ [0266] and [0273]) comprising a thiolated hyaluronic acid (“HA”) (see ¶ [0248]) that has an elastic modulus of 320 Pa (see ¶¶ [0237] and [0274]).
Statements in the preamble reciting the purpose or intended use of the claimed invention are evaluated to determine whether or not the purpose or intended use results in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art. Only if such a structural difference exists does the recitation serve to limit the claim. A prior art structure which is capable of performing the intended use as recited in the preamble meets the claim. MPEP 2111.02(II).
In the present case, independent claim 27 recites a “covering or coating for a patch graft”. This recitation refers to the intended use of a material to cover or coat a patch graft. This recitation does not imply any particular structural characteristics of the subsequently recited material. Because Jiang’s material is same type of material (a hydrogel comprising a thiolated hyaluronic acid) that is presently recited and has a viscoelastic property within the scope of the presently recited range, there is a reasonable basis to conclude that Jiang’s material is capable of being used in the same manner as the presently recited hydrogel, including being used to cover or coat a patch graft which is useful for engrafting cells into a target organ.
Present independent claim 27 further recites that the material has “resilience to withstand mechanical forces from tissues and organs adjacent to the target organ”. As noted above, Jiang’s material has a viscoelasticity property within the scope of the range recited in the dependent claims. The recited “mechanical forces” are not limited to any particular type or amount of force. The claims thus encompass all amounts of force from any tissue or organ.
Because Jiang’s material is same type of material (a hydrogel comprising a thiolated hyaluronic acid) that is presently recited and has a viscoelastic property within the scope of the presently recited range, there is a reasonable basis to conclude that Jiang’s material would have the same capabilities as the presently recited material, including the capability of withstanding some amount of force from some type of tissue or organ; and the capability to prevent the formation of adhesion if it were to be coated on the serosal side of a patch graft.
As to claim 32: The further limitations of the present claim is drawn to aspects of the purpose or intended use of the claimed invention, and they do not imply any particular structural characteristics of the recited material or identify any particular structural difference over the material described by Jiang.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 33-37 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed Apr. 28, 2026 (herein “Remarks”) have been fully considered and they are persuasive in part.
The rejection of claims 38-40 under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) that was set forth in the preceding Office action mailed on Oct. 29, 2025 has been obviated by the cancellation of the claims.
The previous indication that claims 27-30 and 32 were allowed has been withdrawn in light of a newly discovered reference to Jiang that is applied above in paragraphs 7-13. Claims 33-37 remain allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICHARD A. HUHN whose telephone number is (571)270-7345. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM EST.
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, Arrie (Lanee) Reuther can be reached at (571) 270-7026. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RICHARD A. HUHN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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