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 .
An amendment and RCE filed 6/12/2026 are acknowledged. Claims and remarks received 6/2/2026 are considered. Claims 1-3 and 7-19 are elected. Claims 4-6 and 20 are withdrawn. Claims 21-40 are cancelled. Claims 1-3 and 7-19 are considered on the merits below.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 6/12/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Claims filed 6/2/2026 are acknowledged.
In response to the applicant's amendments, the grounds of rejection for claims 1-3 and 7-19 are maintained compared to the previous action. There is also a new grounds of rejections for claims 1, 7-14, and 17-19.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 7-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US 8,969,509 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Liu describes a multi-chromophore dye (columns 1-2 and column 11-14 “formula (VI)” and “R15”) comprising:
two or more dyes each comprising a water solubilizing group (column 3 “Multiple conjugation sites will allow for conjugation of multiple elements to the CP structure. This can be used to create polymer- biomolecule-dye tandem conjugates for multiplex or multicolor analysis.” And columns 26-27 “Organic Dyes…For multiplexed assays, a plurality of different fluorophores can be used with detectably different emission spectra… Exemplary fluorescent dyes include fluorescein,…” which has a water solubilizing group. And columns 13-14: R15 shows “(dye)” compounds);
two or more polymeric spacer domains (column 11-12: compounds a, b, c, e are spacer groups for R15); and
a linking moiety (column 3
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).
Regarding claim 2, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 1, wherein the two or more polymeric spacer domains are part of a branched backbone joining the two or more dyes to the linking moiety (claims 1 and 21 “The polymer of claim 1, wherein E, for each occurrence, is independently an aryl group optionally substituted with a reactive group or a pendent reactive group capable of undergoing chain extension, conjugation, or crosslinking.” i.e. it is part of the branched backbone of the linking moiety in column 3
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).
Regarding claim 3, Liu describes The multi-chromophore dye of claim 2, wherein the multi-chromophore dye has the structure:
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(a linking moiety: column 3
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,
Spacer 1: column 11-12: compounds a, b, c, e are spacer groups for R15,
Spacers 2: column 14 “Organic dyes with covalent linker include any chromophore or fluorophore described herein attached.” And column 63 “The term “alkyl”, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, means straight or branched saturated monovalent hydrocarbon radicals “ and claim 21 “The polymer of claim 1, wherein E, for each occurrence, is independently an aryl group optionally substituted with a reactive group or a pendent reactive group capable of undergoing chain extension, conjugation, or crosslinking.” And column 65 “E is even more preferably aryl or aryl substituted with a reactive group capable of undergoing chain extension, conjugation or crosslinking or a trialkylsiloxy. “ Thus, E can be branched to provide the spacers/dyes indicated.)
Regarding claim 7, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 1, wherein the two or more polymeric spacer domains are each independently a poly(alkylene oxide) group (column 12 compound “e”
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is a poly(alkylene oxide))).
Regarding claim 8, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 7, wherein the poly(alkylene oxide) group is a poly(ethylene oxide) group (column 12 compound “e”
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is a poly(ethylene oxide)).
Regarding claim 9, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 7, wherein the poly(alkylene oxide) group has 4 to 50 alkylene oxide units (column 14 “k=2, 4, 8, 12 or 24”).
Regarding claim 10, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 9, wherein the poly(alkylene oxide) group has 8 to 30 alkylene oxide units (column 14 “k=2, 4, 8, 12 or 24”).
Regarding claim 11, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim l, wherein the linking moiety comprises a functional group (column 4 “L1, L1, L2 and L2 are each independently a covalent bond, a C1-C12 alkylene, a C3-C12 cycloalkylene, a C2-C12 alk- enylene, a C2-C12 alkynylene, a (C6-C18)aryl(Cl-C12) alkylene, a (C6-C18)aryl(C2-C12)alkenylene, a (C6-C18) aryl(Cl-C12)alkynylene, a C6-C18 arylene group, —Y1— [O-YJi,-, —O—Y1-(C)-Y2] — wherein each CI-C12 alkylene, C3-C12 cycloalkylene, (C6-C18)aryl(Cl-C12) alkylene, or C6-C18 arylene group is optionally substituted with one or more halogen, hydroxyl, C1-C12 alkyl, C2-C12 alkenyl, C2-C12 alkynyl group, C1-C12 alkoxy, C1-C12 haloalkyl, -Y1-(O-Y2)p,- or —O—Y1-[O—Y2]p,-;).
Regarding claim 12, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 11, wherein the functional group is a chemoselective functional group (column 30 “The solution may comprise additional components as described herein, including labeled probes such as fluorescently labeled antibodies or polynucleotides, specific for a species of a class of biomolecule target or a biomolecule associated therewith for the conjugated polymers and complexes including conjugated polymers.”).
Regarding claim 13, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of any one of claims 12, wherein the linking moiety is bound to a specific binding member (column 30 “The solution may comprise additional components as described herein, including labeled probes such as fluorescently labeled antibodies or polynucleotides, specific for a species of a class of biomolecule target or a biomolecule associated therewith for the conjugated polymers and complexes including conjugated polymers.”).
Regarding claim 14, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 13, wherein the specific binding member is an antibody (column 3 “the adaptation of CP design to incorporate conjugation sites for direct covalent attachment of CPs to biomolecules such as proteins (antibodies, streptavidin, etc.), peptides and nucleic acids hybridization probes”).
Regarding claim 15, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 13, wherein the specific binding member is an antibody fragment or a binding derivative thereof (column 15 “antibody fragment,”).
Regarding claim 16, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 15, wherein the antibody fragment or binding derivative thereof is selected from the group consisting of a Fab fragment, a F(ab')2 fragment, a scFv, a diabody and a triabody (figure 20 shows Fab structure and column 23 “As shown schematically in FIG. 20, the sensor can be a biomolecule (e.g., an antibody) in a solution or on a substrate, to which conjugated polymers can be added. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 20, a dye can be covalently linked (bioconjugated) to an antibody (Y-shaped structure), which possesses a net negative charge”).
Regarding claim 17, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim l, wherein each of the water solubilizing groups of the two or more dyes are independently a poly(alkylene oxide) group (column 27 “Exemplary fluorescent dyes include… carboxyrhodamine 110” which has a poly(alkylene oxide) group ).
Regarding claim 18, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 17, wherein each of the poly(alkylene oxide) groups is a poly(ethylene oxide) group (column 27 “Exemplary fluorescent dyes include… carboxyrhodamine 110” which has a poly(ethylene oxide) group).
Regarding claim 19, Liu describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 17, wherein each of the poly(alkylene oxide) groups has 4 to 50 alkylene oxide units (column 27 “Exemplary fluorescent dyes include… carboxyrhodamine 110” which has 4 (ethylene oxide) groups).
Claim(s) 1, 7-14, and 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Singh et al. (US 2019 / 0136065 A1, provided on the IDS on 10/26/2022).
Regarding claim 1, Singh describes a multi-chromophore dye (abstract and claim 1) comprising:
two or more dyes each comprising a water solubilizing group (claim 1 “polymeric dye comprising two or more dye moieties M” and [0097] “the polymeric dyes employed herein are water soluble,”);
two or more polymeric spacer domains ([0423] “spacers (e.g., hexaethyloxy-glycol phosphoramidite, triethyloxy-glycol phosphoramidite, polyethylene glycol phosphoramidite”); and
a linking moiety (claim 1 “a linker L”).
Regarding claims 7 and 8, Singh describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 1, wherein the two or more polymeric spacer domains are each independently a poly(alkylene oxide) group and the poly(alkylene oxide) group is a poly(ethylene oxide) group ([0423] “spacers (e.g., hexaethyloxy-glycol phosphoramidite, triethyloxy-glycol phosphoramidite, polyethylene glycol phosphoramidite”).
Regarding claims 9 and 10, Singh describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 7, wherein the poly(alkylene oxide) group has 4 to 50 alkylene oxide units and has 8 to 30 alkylene oxide units ([0423] “spacers (e.g., hexaethyloxy-glycol phosphoramidite (6 units),… polyethylene glycol phosphoramidite (between 8-30 units)”).
Regarding claims 11, 12, 13, and 14, Singh describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim l, wherein the linking moiety comprises a functional group and the functional group is a chemoselective functional group and the linking moiety is bound to a specific binding member and the specific binding member is an antibody ([0380] “In some embodiments of the foregoing methods, R2 is a linker comprising a covalent linkage to an analyte molecule, such as a biomolecule. For example, a nucleic acid, amino acid or a polymer thereof (e.g., polynucleotide or polypeptide). In still more embodiments, the biomolecule is an enzyme, receptor, receptor ligand, antibody, glycoprotein, aptamer or prion.” And [0400] “the compound (i.e., polymeric dye) may be provided with a targeting moiety, such as an antibody, for selectively associating with the desired cell”).
Regarding claim 17, Singh describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim l, wherein each of the water solubilizing groups of the two or more dyes are independently a poly(alkylene oxide) group ([0134] “The dye moieties M are often hydrophobic, and thus in certain embodiments L is selected to improve the water solubility of the polymeric dye compound. In some embodiments, L comprises hydrophilic functional groups. In other embodiments, L comprises charged functional groups (e.g., charged at pH values ranging from 1-14 in an aqueous environment). In different embodiments, L comprises phosphate, amino acid or alkylene oxide functional groups.”).
Regarding claim 18, Singh describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 17, wherein each of the poly(alkylene oxide) groups is a poly(ethylene oxide) group ([0042] “"Alkylene" or "alkylene chain" refers to a straight or branched divalent hydrocarbon chain linking the rest of the molecule to a radical group, consisting solely of carbon and hydrogen, containing no unsaturation, and having from one to twelve carbon atoms, e.g., methylene, ethylene”).
Regarding claim 19, Singh describes the multi-chromophore dye of claim 17, wherein each of the poly(alkylene oxide) groups has 4 to 50 alkylene oxide units (Table 2 “23 units”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/2/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant argues that the prior art does not describe the full scope of claim 1. They indicate that because of the monovalence of the E-groups there would not be a dye attached.
In response to the applicant's arguments, although there was a clear argument presented for some of the definition provided for E in the prior art, it is not apparent that the argument regarding E to be linear is sound (arguments page 2). The applicant asserts that the cited portion of Liu (claims 1 and 21) required the E group to be linear, but this is not found in the prior art. Thus E can be branched to provide the spacers/dyes indicated.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EMILY R BERKELEY whose telephone number is (571)272-9831. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9-6.
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/LYLE ALEXANDER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1797
/EMILY R. BERKELEY/
Examiner
Art Unit 1796
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