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
Status of Claims
Note: The amendment of December 5th 2025 has been considered.
Claim 1 has been amended.
Claims 1-16 are pending in the current application.
Claims 4-16 are withdrawn from consideration.
Claims 1-3 are examined in the current application.
Any rejections not recited below have been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35 of the U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Domae et al. (JP 2017077219 A – Machine Translation).
Regarding claims 1 and 2: Domae discloses a method for manufacturing a water-in-oil emulsified oil (butter-like) composition derived from vegetable milk (e.g., almond milk) (see Domae abstract), the method comprising: separately heating a vegetable milk and a vegetable processed fat (e.g., partially hydrogenated, or esterified vegetable oils) to a temperature equal to, or higher than a melting point of the vegetable processed fat; adding the heated vegetable processed fat to the heated vegetable milk and performing emulsification; cooling the vegetable milk emulsion obtained by the emulsification; subjecting the creamy substance, obtained by the cooling, to churning or cavitation (i.e., quenched) and kneading with a cooling mixer, and plasticized to obtain an [the water-in-oil emulsion] oil composition that is a plastic oil composition to be used in combination of other additives, as a spread (see Domae abstract; from “The present invention is described in detail below” on page 2 to “Examples Hereinafter” on page 3), which reads on and separating the creamy substance into an aqueous phase and an oil phase and kneading the oil phase to attain solid fat.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Domae et al., as applied to claims 1 and 2 above, and further in view of Tagi et al., (USPatPub. 2017/0013855 A1).
Regarding claim 3: Domae discloses subjecting the creamy substance obtained by the cooling to churning or cavitation (i.e., quenched) and kneaded with a cooling mixer, and plasticized to obtain an [the water-in-oil emulsion] oil composition that is a plastic oil composition to be used in combination of other additives, as a spread (see Domae abstract; from “The present invention is described in detail below” on page 2 to “Examples Hereinafter” on page 3), but fails to disclose adding edible fiber to the plastic oil; However, Tagi discloses adding soybean powder, which is known to comprise fiber (i.e., Okara), to gelatinous food , such as fats and/or oils, to impart richness (see Tagi abstract; paragraphs [0135]-[0143]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a skilled artisan at the time the application was filed to have modified Domae and to have added the soybean powder from Tagi, which contains edible fiber, in order to improve the richness of the plastic oil, and thus arrive at the claimed limitations.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on December 5th 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues on page 2 of the “Remarks” that the prior art references fail to render the claims obvious, because Domae discloses a method to test the butter-like product, rather than a method of making the product, as recited in the claims. The Examiner Respectfully disagrees.
Domae discloses on page 3:
The plastic fat composition using the water-in-oil emulsified fat composition of the present invention can be prepared by the following procedure. First, an aqueous phase containing almond milk is prepared. Moreover, the oil phase containing edible fats and oils is prepared. It is desirable that these water phase and oil phase are heated to 50 to 90° C., preferably 65 to 85 ° C., and the added components are completely dissolved. Next, these water phase and oil phase are mixed and emulsified under heating. For example, emulsification is carried out while slowly adding a heated aqueous phase to a heated oil phase. The dissolution, heat sterilization, and emulsification are preferably performed at a low temperature or in a short time in order to prevent protein modification and flavor deterioration of almond milk. Then, you may add other additional components, such as a fragrance | flavor, as needed. Thereafter, the heated emulsion is quenched and kneaded with a cooling mixer such as a knead combinator, perfector, botator, nexus, etc., and plasticized to obtain the water-in-oil emulsion oil composition of the present invention as a plastic oil composition. Can do. Furthermore, you may age | cure | ripen (tempering) at 15-35°C as needed. In addition, the water-in-oil type emulsified oil / fat composition in which almond milk is blended in the aqueous phase can qualitatively and quantitatively determine the almond protein contained in the aqueous phase after separating the emulsified oil / fat composition into an aqueous phase and an oil phase. It can be qualitatively and quantitatively derived from this almond milk. For qualitative and quantitative analysis, known protein analysis methods such as Eliza method can be used.
While Domae discloses of qualitatively and quantitatively testing the almond protein in the composition, Domae discloses forming the composition by cooling the vegetable milk emulsion obtained by the emulsification; subjecting the creamy substance, obtained by the cooling, to churning or cavitation (i.e., quenched) and kneading with a cooling mixer. The fact that Domae further tests the almond protein in the final composition, does not render the claimed invention patentable over the prior art, as the process of preparing the composition recited in claims 1 and 2 is met in the prior art references.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ASSAF ZILBERING whose telephone number is (571)270-3029. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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, Erik Kashnikow can be reached at (571) 270-3475. 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.
/ASSAF ZILBERING/Examiner, Art Unit 1792
/ERIK KASHNIKOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1792