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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/26/2026 has been entered.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or
under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. This application is a 371 of PCT/US2020/029643 filed 04/23/2020 which claims benefit of Application No. 62/838,408 filed 04/25/2019. Based on the filing receipt, the effective filing date of this application is April 25, 2019 which is the filing date of Application No. 62/838,408 from which the benefit of priority is claimed.
Status of Claims
Claims 2, 6-9, 11-31, and 33 are cancelled by the Applicant.
Claims 1, 3-5, 10, 32, and 34-35 are pending and examined herein.
New Rejections
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 4-5, 32, and 34-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventors, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Scope of the claims
Regarding claim 1, the claim is directed towards a protein comprising an amino acid sequence that is at least 70% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, and comprising at least one amino acid substitution, insertion, or deletion relative to SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the protein lacks an N-terminal signal peptide domain. The specification and the state of the art do not allow for predictable variation in SEQ ID NO: 1 up to 30%.
SEQ ID NO: 1 is 135 amino acids long. Therefore, 70% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 allows for any amino acids at 40 unspecified positions in SEQ ID NO: 1. The breadth of the genus, therefore, includes an extremely large number of proteins.
The claim 1 limitation of “comprises at least one amino acid substitution , insertion, or deletion relative to SEQ ID NO: 1” also encompasses an extremely large number of proteins and specific guidance is not provided as to which amino acids are modified and how the amino acids are modified.
Regarding claim 4, the body of the claim recites, “wherein the glycosylation occurs at a position corresponding to N58 of SEQ ID NO: 1”. The claim does not sufficiently limit the scope of the claims. The specification does not sufficiently define the term “corresponds”. The Brittanica Dictionary defines correspond as “to be similar or equal to something” (https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/correspond). A position similar to N58 of SEQ ID NO: 1 includes a large number of unspecified positions.
Similarly, claim 35 recites, “wherein the N-terminal signal peptide domain corresponds to one or more of amino acids 1-18 of SEQ ID NO: 1”. The claim does not sufficiently limit the scope of the claims. A protein wherein the N-terminal signal peptide domain corresponds to one or more of amino acids 1-18 of SEQ ID NO: 1 encompasses a large number of proteins because a domain similar to one or more of amino acids 1-18 of SEQ ID NO: 1 includes a large number of unspecified domains.
State of the Relevant Art
Regarding proteins known in the art, Pronutria (US 9878004 B2, published 2018-01-30, cited in PTO-892 dated 2025-06-04) teaches the polypeptide SEQ ID NO: 3271, which is 98.9% identical to this application's SEQ ID NO: 1, as evidenced by the sequence alignment provided below:
Sequence 3271, US/15024636
Patent No. 9878004
GENERAL INFORMATION
APPLICANT: PRONUTRIA, INC.
TITLE OF INVENTION: COMPOSITIONS AND FORMULATIONS FOR TREATMENT OF GASTROINTESTINAL
TITLE OF INVENTION: TRACT MALABSORPTION DISEASES AND INFLAMMATORY CONDITIONS AND METHODS
TITLE OF INVENTION: OF PRODUCTION AND USE THEREOF
FILE REFERENCE: 27859/PCT
CURRENT APPLICATION NUMBER: US/15/024,636
CURRENT FILING DATE: 2016-03-24
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: PCT/US14/57534
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2014-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/906,862
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-11-20
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,211
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,214
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,219
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,220
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,225
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,229
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,232
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,234
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
Remaining Prior Application data removed - See File Wrapper or PALM.
NUMBER OF SEQ ID NOS: 4133
SEQ ID NO 3271
LENGTH: 135
TYPE: PRT
ORGANISM: Agaricus bisporus
FEATURE:
NAME/KEY: source
OTHER INFORMATION: /note="var. bisporus"
FEATURE:
NAME/KEY: source
OTHER INFORMATION: /note="strain H97 / ATCC MYA-4626 / FGSC 10389"
Query Match 98.9%; Score 716; Length 135;
Best Local Similarity 98.5%;
Matches 133; Conservative 2; Mismatches 0; Indels 0; Gaps 0;
Qy 1 MFSKVYLVASTLIAVAVAQAPLQCYQGLPTSAGPATDCSRFVNTFCDAAAAVPAVRINDS 60
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||:|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||:||
Db 1 MFSKVYLVASTLIAVAVAQAPLQCYQGVPTSAGPATDCSRFVNTFCDAAAAVPAVRIDDS 60
Qy 61 VSRCFNLPDAKVCDFIAWNTFTRNVPPSAANCKSVLNKVISQCVLGGYGQVGPNAYTFTV 120
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Db 61 VSRCFNLPDAKVCDFIAWNTFTRNVPPSAANCKSVLNKVISQCVLGGYGQVGPNAYTFTV 120
Qy 121 DVNHGQCGHDVHGGS 135
|||||||||||||||
Db 121 DVNHGQCGHDVHGGS 135
Regarding glycan binding proteins known in the art, Taylor et al. (“Discovery and Classification of Glycan-Binding Proteins”, published 2022) discloses, “It is convenient to classify lectins based on the structures of the CRDs [(carbohydrate-binding domains)] that they contain (Figure 28.3). CRDs are found in a large number of different structural categories, indicating that many different protein folds can accommodate glycan binding (Chapter 30). Based on this observation, glycan recognition must have evolved independently many times and the diversity of CRD structures must have arisen to address a diversity of functions” (see, p. 5, under “CLASSIFICATION OF LECTINS BASED ON STRUCTURAL SIMILARITIES” para. 1). Taylor’s disclosure shows the glycan binding proteins gain their function from CRDs, which vary greatly in structure. The applicant’s specification has not disclosed how all of the sequences meeting the limitation of 70% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 maintains the glycan binding function of SEQ ID NO: 1.
Summary of species disclosed in the original specification
The original specification discloses 2 different sequences (SEQ ID NOs: 1 and 3) meeting the limitation of 70% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, as in claim 1.
Do the species disclosed in the specification describe a genus?
MPEP 2163 states that a “representative number of species” means that the species which are adequately described are representative of the entire genus. Thus, when there is substantial variation within the genus, one must describe a sufficient variety of species to reflect the variation within the genus. The instant specification only discloses two sequences more than 70% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1 . Given the breadth of the genus including an extremely large number of sequences more than 70% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1, with no additional guidance or examples provided, an artisan would not understand applicant to be in possession of the entire genus at the time of filing.
Identifying characteristics and structure/function correlation
In the absence of a representative number of species, the written description requirement for a claimed genus may be satisfied by the disclosure of relevant, identifying characteristics (i.e. structure or other physical and/or chemical properties, by functional characteristics coupled with a known or disclosed correlation between function and structure, or by a combination of such identifying characteristics, sufficient to show the applicant was in possession of the claimed genus. To meet the requirement in the instant case, the specification must describe structural features that the skilled artisan, as of the effective filing date, would have expected to convey the relevant activity.
As noted above, the art teaches the CRDs are comprised of vastly different structures. There is no guidance in the applicant’s specification related to conserving glycan binding function. Therefore, there insufficient structure/function correlation to define a genus of proteins comprising an amino acid sequence at least 70% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1.
Summary
A genus of species is not present in the instant specification or prior art that would demonstrate a structure/activity relationship would be known for conserving glycan binding function. There is a lack of an appropriate number of species that are at least 70% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1. One of skill in the art would reasonably conclude that the applicant was not in possession of the genus of substitutions and deletions of the polypeptide of claim 1 at the time of filing. Regarding claims 4-5, 32, and 34-35 the claims are ultimately dependent on the rejected claim 1 without sufficiently narrowing the claimed subject matter and thus are also rejected.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites, “wherein the glycosylation occurs at a position corresponding to N58 of SEQ ID NO: 1”. Similarly, claim 35 recites, “wherein the N-terminal signal peptide domain corresponds to one or more of amino acids 1-18 of SEQ ID NO: 1”. The Brittanica Dictionary defines correspond as “to be similar or equal to something” (https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/correspond). The metes and bounds of a protein comprising glycosylation at a position similar to N58 of SEQ ID NO: 1 cannot be ascertained. Likewise, the metes and bounds of a protein, wherein the N-terminal signal peptide domain is similar to one or more of amino acids 1-18 of SEQ ID NO: 1, cannot be ascertained. The specification does not ameliorate the lack of clarity regarding the use of correspond/corresponding.
Furthermore, claim 35 is indefinite because claim 35 refers to the N-terminal signal peptide domain as one or more of amino acids 1-18 of SEQ ID NO: 1. However, p. 6 of the specification defines the signal peptide domain as the entirety of the first 18 amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO: 1. It is unclear how only one of the amino acids can be the signal peptide domain or the domain can be less than 18 amino acids when the signal peptide domain defined by the specification is 18 amino acid residues long. Signal peptides, by their very nature, cannot be only one amino acid long.
Maintained Rejections
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1, 4-5, 32, and 34 stand rejected and claim 35 is newly rejected rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Pronutria, INC. (US 9878004 B2, published 2018-01-30, cited in PTO-892 dated 2025-06-04). The rejections of claims 1 and 4, discussed below, have been modified, necessitated by amendments filed 2026-02-26.
With respect to claim 1, Pronutria teaches the polypeptide SEQ ID NO: 3271, which is 98.9% identical to this application's SEQ ID NO: 1, as evidenced by the sequence alignment provided below:
Sequence 3271, US/15024636
Patent No. 9878004
GENERAL INFORMATION
APPLICANT: PRONUTRIA, INC.
TITLE OF INVENTION: COMPOSITIONS AND FORMULATIONS FOR TREATMENT OF GASTROINTESTINAL
TITLE OF INVENTION: TRACT MALABSORPTION DISEASES AND INFLAMMATORY CONDITIONS AND METHODS
TITLE OF INVENTION: OF PRODUCTION AND USE THEREOF
FILE REFERENCE: 27859/PCT
CURRENT APPLICATION NUMBER: US/15/024,636
CURRENT FILING DATE: 2016-03-24
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: PCT/US14/57534
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2014-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/906,862
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-11-20
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,211
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,214
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,219
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,220
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,225
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,229
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,232
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
PRIOR APPLICATION NUMBER: 61/882,234
PRIOR FILING DATE: 2013-09-25
Remaining Prior Application data removed - See File Wrapper or PALM.
NUMBER OF SEQ ID NOS: 4133
SEQ ID NO 3271
LENGTH: 135
TYPE: PRT
ORGANISM: Agaricus bisporus
FEATURE:
NAME/KEY: source
OTHER INFORMATION: /note="var. bisporus"
FEATURE:
NAME/KEY: source
OTHER INFORMATION: /note="strain H97 / ATCC MYA-4626 / FGSC 10389"
Query Match 98.9%; Score 716; Length 135;
Best Local Similarity 98.5%;
Matches 133; Conservative 2; Mismatches 0; Indels 0; Gaps 0;
Qy 1 MFSKVYLVASTLIAVAVAQAPLQCYQGLPTSAGPATDCSRFVNTFCDAAAAVPAVRINDS 60
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||:|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||:||
Db 1 MFSKVYLVASTLIAVAVAQAPLQCYQGVPTSAGPATDCSRFVNTFCDAAAAVPAVRIDDS 60
Qy 61 VSRCFNLPDAKVCDFIAWNTFTRNVPPSAANCKSVLNKVISQCVLGGYGQVGPNAYTFTV 120
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Db 61 VSRCFNLPDAKVCDFIAWNTFTRNVPPSAANCKSVLNKVISQCVLGGYGQVGPNAYTFTV 120
Qy 121 DVNHGQCGHDVHGGS 135
|||||||||||||||
Db 121 DVNHGQCGHDVHGGS 135
With respect to claim 1, Pronutria teaches a sequence with at least one amino acid substitution of SEQ ID NO: 1 (see, substitutions amino acid residues at positions 28 and 58 of the sequence above).
With further respect to claim 1, Pronutria teaches the polypeptide above bound to a solid substrate (see, e.g., col. 204, lines 57-60).
With respect to claim 1, Pronutria teaches, “As provided herein, a nutritive polypeptide encompasses polypeptides with or without signal peptides” (see, col. 38, lines 49-51).
With respect to claim 4, Pronutria teaches the polypeptides are glycosylated at multiple amino acids (see, e.g., col. 33, lines 57-63, and col. 34, lines 60-66).
With respect to claim 5, Pronutria teaches the protein variant of claim 1 and, therefore, the protein variant would bind to one or more types of complex N-glycans because the function of binding to complex N-glycans will follow from the form of the protein variant taught by Pronutria.
With respect to claim 32, Pronutria teaches the polypeptides are unglycosylated (see, e.g., col. 33, lines 57-63).
With respect to claim 34, Pronutria teaches the solid substrate is a gel (see, e.g., col. 204, lines 57-60).
With respect to claim 35, Pronutria teaches, “As provided herein, a nutritive polypeptide encompasses polypeptides with or without signal peptides” (see, col. 38, lines 49-51).
Response to Arguments
Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102
The applicant has amended claim 1 to recite, “wherein the Ab-Y3 protein lacks an N-terminal signal peptide domain”. Previously, the amended limitation was indicated as free of the prior art, however, upon continued examination, the limitation was found anticipated by Pronutria (cited above), as discussed above.
Conclusion
Claims 3 and 10 are free of the prior art.
The closest prior art of record is Morin ("Genome sequence of the button mushroom Agaricus bisporus reveals mechanisms governing adaptation to a humic-rich ecological niche", published 2012-10-08, cited in PTO-892 dated 2025-06-04).
With respect to claim 3, Morin teaches a polypeptide sequence, which is 100% identical to this application's SEQ ID NO: 3, as evidenced by the sequence alignment provided below:
ID K5WL21_AGABU Unreviewed; 135 AA.
AC K5WL21;
DT 09-JAN-2013, integrated into UniProtKB/TrEMBL.
DT 09-JAN-2013, sequence version 1.
DT 05-FEB-2025, entry version 24.
DE RecName: Full=Glycan binding protein Y3-like domain-containing protein {ECO:0000259|Pfam:PF22803};
GN ORFNames=AGABI1DRAFT_131725 {ECO:0000313|EMBL:EKM76006.1};
OS Agaricus bisporus var. burnettii (strain JB137-S8 / ATCC MYA-4627 / FGSC
OS 10392) (White button mushroom).
OC Eukaryota; Fungi; Dikarya; Basidiomycota; Agaricomycotina; Agaricomycetes;
OC Agaricomycetidae; Agaricales; Agaricineae; Agaricaceae; Agaricus.
OX NCBI_TaxID=597362 {ECO:0000313|EMBL:EKM76006.1, ECO:0000313|Proteomes:UP000008493};
RN [1] {ECO:0000313|Proteomes:UP000008493}
RP NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCE [LARGE SCALE GENOMIC DNA].
RC STRAIN=JB137-S8 / ATCC MYA-4627 / FGSC 10392
RC {ECO:0000313|Proteomes:UP000008493};
RX PubMed=23045686; DOI=10.1073/pnas.1206847109;
RA Morin E., Kohler A., Baker A.R., Foulongne-Oriol M., Lombard V., Nagy L.G.,
RA Ohm R.A., Patyshakuliyeva A., Brun A., Aerts A.L., Bailey A.M.,
RA Billette C., Coutinho P.M., Deakin G., Doddapaneni H., Floudas D.,
RA Grimwood J., Hilden K., Kuees U., LaButti K.M., Lapidus A., Lindquist E.A.,
RA Lucas S.M., Murat C., Riley R.W., Salamov A.A., Schmutz J., Subramanian V.,
RA Woesten H.A.B., Xu J., Eastwood D.C., Foster G.D., Sonnenberg A.S.,
RA Cullen D., de Vries R.P., Lundell T., Hibbett D.S., Henrissat B.,
RA Burton K.S., Kerrigan R.W., Challen M.P., Grigoriev I.V., Martin F.;
RT "Genome sequence of the button mushroom Agaricus bisporus reveals
RT mechanisms governing adaptation to a humic-rich ecological niche.";
RL Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 109:17501-17506(2012).
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DR EMBL; JH971406; EKM76006.1; -; Genomic_DNA.
DR RefSeq; XP_007333380.1; XM_007333318.1.
DR AlphaFoldDB; K5WL21; -.
DR GeneID; 18827507; -.
DR KEGG; abp:AGABI1DRAFT131725; -.
DR HOGENOM; CLU_155985_0_0_1; -.
DR InParanoid; K5WL21; -.
DR OMA; FIAWNTF; -.
DR OrthoDB; 2925523at2759; -.
DR Proteomes; UP000008493; Unassembled WGS sequence.
DR InterPro; IPR054443; Y3-like_dom.
DR Pfam; PF22803; GBD_Y3; 1.
PE 4: Predicted;
KW Reference proteome {ECO:0000313|Proteomes:UP000008493};
KW Signal {ECO:0000256|SAM:SignalP}.
FT SIGNAL 1..18
FT /evidence="ECO:0000256|SAM:SignalP"
FT CHAIN 19..135
FT /note="Glycan binding protein Y3-like domain-containing
FT protein"
FT /evidence="ECO:0000256|SAM:SignalP"
FT /id="PRO_5003885680"
FT DOMAIN 37..127
FT /note="Glycan binding protein Y3-like"
FT /evidence="ECO:0000259|Pfam:PF22803"
SQ SEQUENCE 135 AA; 14159 MW; 9550658A33DCC998 CRC64;
Query Match 100.0%; Score 644; Length 135;
Best Local Similarity 100.0%;
Matches 117; Conservative 0; Mismatches 0; Indels 0; Gaps 0;
Qy 1 QAPLQCYQGLPTSAGPATDCSRFVNTFCDAAAAVPAVRINDSVSRCFNLPDAKVCDFIAW 60
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Db 19 QAPLQCYQGLPTSAGPATDCSRFVNTFCDAAAAVPAVRINDSVSRCFNLPDAKVCDFIAW 78
Qy 61 NTFTRNVPPSAANCKSVLNKVISQCVLGGYGQVGPNAYTFTVDVNHGQCGHDVHGGS 117
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Db 79 NTFTRNVPPSAANCKSVLNKVISQCVLGGYGQVGPNAYTFTVDVNHGQCGHDVHGGS 135
However, Morin fails to teach the recombinant Ab-Y3 protein variant is bound to a solid substrate, as in claims 3 and 10. Morin fails to teach a homo-oligomeric protein complex comprising between 2 and 10 protein subunits, wherein at least one of the subunits consists of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 3, as in claim 10. For these reasons, claims 3 and 10 are free of the prior art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL C SVEIVEN whose telephone number is (703)756-4653. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday - 8AM to 5PM PST.
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, Gregory Emch can be reached at (571) 272-8149. 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.
/MICHAEL CAMERON SVEIVEN/Examiner, Art Unit 1678
/GREGORY S EMCH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1678