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 .
Claims 26-28, 36, 38-52 are pending in the instant application.
Claims 26-28 are presented for examination.
Claims 36, 38-52 are withdrawn from examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 26-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a natural phenomenon without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) a purified or isolated endophyte strain, wherein the endophyte is a strain of Erwinia gerundensis which provides bioprotection and/or biofertilizer phenotypes to plants into which it is inoculated, and wherein the endophyte strain is Erwinia gerundensis strain AR as deposited with The National Measurement Institute on 17" May 2019 with accession number V19/009908. The purified or isolated endophyte strain is not markedly different from the Erwinia gerundensis naturally occurring in the plant. The purified or isolated endophyte strain Erwinia gerundensis conveys the same genetic information and same physical characteristic of the bacteria. There is no evidence provided in the specification that substantially purifying or isolating endophyte Erwinia gerundensis strain changes the endophyte in such a way that it possesses markedly different characteristics from the Erwinia gerundensis naturally occurring in the plant. These judicial exceptions are not integrated into a practical application because even though the recites functional characteristics of the strain in bioprotection/biofertilizer, these do not qualify as an integration into a practical application. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because no additional elements are recited in addition to the strain or the bioprotectant compound that serve to integrate the judicial exception into a practical application.
The 101 rejection will be overcome, if the claims are drawn to a method of using purified endo type for a specific purpose. The claimed should start with “A method” instead of “A purified or isolated strain”. The incorporation of the method of use of claim 42 in claim 1, will overcome the 101 rejection.
Applicant is request to add the phrase “all restrictions upon public access to the deposit will be irrevocably removed” to the instant specification.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZOHREH A FAY whose telephone number is (703)756-1800. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30AM-6:00.
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/ZOHREH A FAY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1617
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