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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 12/24/2025 has been entered into the prosecution of the application.
Claim 1 is amended and claims 3-8 are canceled.
Currently, claim(s) 1-2 is/are pending examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milan Hajek of US 2010/0133088 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Hajek) from the Information Disclosure Statement received on 10/08/2021 in view of Noriyuki Nukui of US 2014/0120593 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Nukui) and Jiménez, et al. "Uncovering the Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 gallate decarboxylase involved in tannin degradation." Applied and Environmental Microbiology 79.14 (2013): 4253-4263) (hereinafter referred to as Jiménez) from the Information Disclosure Statement received on 10/08/2021, relying on Wang, Jia, et al. "Microbial synthesis of pyrogallol using genetically engineered Escherichia coli." Metabolic Engineering 45 (2018): 134-141, as an evidentiary support for claim 1.
As to claim 1, Hajek teaches to a method of producing pyrogallol from polyethylene terephthalate, comprising:
producing terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol through hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate (Hajek, paragraph [0006], teaches to producing terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol through hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate, as Hajek teaches to performing hydrolysis under continuing microwave radiation for yielding terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol).
Hajek does not explicitly teach producing pyrogallol through bioconversion of the terephthalic acid in the presence of a biocatalyst, wherein protocatechuic acid is an intermediate produced by the bioconversion, and the bioconversion of terephthalic acid to protocatechuic acid is performed using a microbe expressing terephthalic acid 1,2-dioxygenase and 1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dicarboxylate dehydrogenase as biocatalysts.
In an analogous art, Nukui teaches to producing pyrogallol through bioconversion of the terephthalic acid in the presence of a biocatalyst (Nukui, paragraph [0108], teaches to producing pyrogallol through bioconversion of the terephthalic acid in the presence of a biocatalyst, as Nukui discloses producing gallic acid through bioconversion of the terephthalic acid in the presence of a biocatalyst; Nukui, paragraph [0147], teaches to the biocatalyst is a microbe expressing terephthalate 1,2-dioxygenase), wherein protocatechuic acid is an intermediate produced by the bioconversion (Nukui, paragraph [0048], teaches to wherein protocatechuic acid is an intermediate produced by the bioconversion, as Nukui teaches to a method of using a microorganism for converting terephthalic acid into protocatechuic acid), and the bioconversion of terephthalic acid to protocatechuic acid is performed using a microbe expressing terephthalic acid 1,2-dioxygenase (Nukui, paragraph [0108], Fig. 1, teaches to using a microbe expressing terephthalic acid 1,2-dioxygenase, also expressed as TPADO) and 1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dicarboxylate dehydrogenase as biocatalysts (Nukui, paragraph [0108], Fig. 1, teaches to using 1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dicarbonxylate dehydrogenase, also expressed as TPA-DHD dehydrogenase, as biocatalysts).
Both Hajek and Nukui relate to recycling the polyethylene terephthalate products (Nukui, paragraph [0004] – [0005]). Hajek does not explicitly teach producing pyrogallol through bioconversion of terephthalic acid in the presence of a biocatalyst. Hajek does teach to hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate using microwave radiation. Nukui teaches to producing pyrogallol through bioconversion of terephthalic acid in the presence of a biocatalyst for recycling of polyethylene terephthalate for obtaining other useful chemicals using microorganisms (Nukui, paragraph [0006]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Hajek with the biocatalyst of Nukui for recycling of polyethylene terephthalate for obtaining other useful chemicals using microorganisms.
Hajek in view of Nukui teaches to wherein the bioconversion of terephthalic acid to pyrogallol is performed using a combination of a microbe expressing terephthalic acid 1,2-dioxygenase (Nukui, paragraph [0108], Fig. 1, teaches to using a microbe expressing terephthalic acid 1,2-dioxygenase, also expressed as TPADO), 1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dicarbonylate dehydrogenase (Nukui, paragraph [0108], Fig. 1, teaches to using 1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dicarbonxylate dehydrogenase, also expressed as TPA-DHD dehydrogenase, as biocatalysts), and a microbe expressing a phenol hydroxylase as a biocatalyst (Nukui, paragraph [0108], Fig. 1, teaches to a microbe expressing a phenol hydroxylase as a biocatalyst, as Nukui teaches to p-hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase).
Hajek in view of Nukui does not explicitly teach protocatechuic acid decarboxylase.
In an analogous art, Jiménez teaches to protocatechuic acid decarboxylase (Jiménez, pg. 4257-4258, teaches to protocatechuic acid decarboxylase, as Jiménez teaches to LpdC as gallate decarboxylase; LpdC is a non-oxidative aromatic acid decarboxylase that functions as a gallate decarboxylase and is operable as a protocatechuic acid decarboxylase).
Both Hajek in view of Nukui and Jiménez relate to using engineered proteins for biosynthetic pathway (Jiménez, pg. 4257). Hajek in view of Nukui does not explicitly teach to a method of producing pyrogallol. Hajek in view of Nukui does teach producing gallic acid. Wang, abstract, relied on as an evidentiary support herein, teaches that decarboxylation of gallic acid was known to produce pyrogallol prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention. Jiménez teaches to using a microbe expressing protocatechuic acid decarboxylase for eliminating carboxyl group, thereby converting gallic acid into pyrogallol.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Hajek in view of Nukui with the biocatalyst of Jiménez for obtaining other useful chemicals using microorganisms.
As to claim 2, Hajek teaches to the method of claim 1, wherein the hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate is performed by applying microwaves (Hajek, paragraph [0006], teaches to wherein the hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate is performed by applying microwaves, as Hajek teaches to performing hydrolysis under continuing microwave radiation for yielding terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/24/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On pg. 4-6 of 7, the applicant addresses Fig. 8a and 8b, along with “PG-1a/1b system” and “PG-2a/2b system,” but does not clearly establish how the claims avoid the references or distinguish from them.
Applicant should submit an argument under the heading “Remarks” pointing out disagreements with the examiner’s contentions. Applicant must also discuss the references applied against the claims, explaining how the claims avoid the references or distinguish from them.
Applicant's arguments fail to comply with 37 CFR 1.111(b) because they amount to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references.
Please refer to the rejection above.
Conclusion
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/JOHN LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 1794
/JAMES LIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1794