DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Applicant’s election of Invention 3 in the reply filed on 07/15/2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.03(a)).
Claims 1-8, 10, 12-18, 20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention. The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 22-24 are under consideration in this Office Action.
Claim Objection
Claim 22 is objected to since the claim depends from nonelected claim 1. Applicant is required to amend the claim to recite the method steps of claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2013067305 (05/10/2013; IDS filed 09/13/2022) in view of WO2007052081 (05/10/2007; IDS filed 09/13/2022), Rosario et al. (Continuous-Flow Fermentation of Banana Fruit Pulp Sugar into Ethanol by Carrageenan-Immobilized Yeast, Biotechnology Letters, vol. 7, no. 11, 1985, pages 819-820; IDS filed 09/13/2022).
WO2013067305 (05/10/2013; IDS filed 09/13/2022) teaches a process for producing a supplement comprising banana plant extract for promoting the growth of yeasts. It was shown that the addition of the specific banana plant extract facilitates yeast growth in different growth media. In Example 9, Saccharomyces cerevisiae was hydrated and "Baclyte" was added, and the mixture was incubated at 30°C and analyzed after predetermined intervals (eg. between 30 minutes and 8 hours). See entire publication and claims especially claims 1-27 and Figs. 11 and 12. The teachings of the reference differ from the claims in that the reference does not teach the claimed method steps to allow fermentation of the sugar source to ethanol.
WO2007052081 teaches a method of promoting growth of Gram positive bacteria, the
method comprising providing bacteria with an extract obtainable from or obtained from Bananas
(Musa spp). WO2007052081 teaches the following in the claims:
1. A method of promoting growth of Gram positive bacteria, the method comprising providing bacteria with an extract obtainable from or obtained from Musa spp.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the extract is obtainable or obtained from bananas.
3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the extract is obtainable from or obtained from the skin of the fruit of Musa spp.
4. The method of claims 1 or claim 2 wherein the extract is obtainable from or obtained from the pulp of the fruit of Musa spp.
5. The method of any preceding claim wherein the extract does not substantially comprise catecholamines, and/or fructo-oligosaccharides.
6. The method of any preceding claim wherein the bacteria are lactic acid bacteria.
7. The method of any preceding claim wherein the bacteria are environmentally stressed prior to growth with the extract.
8. The method of any preceding claim comprising the step of growing the bacteria in a non-anaerobic environment.
9. A method of promoting growth of environmentally stressed Gram negative bacteria, the method comprising providing bacteria with an extract obtainable from or obtained from Musa spp.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the bacteria comprise pathogenic and/or enteric bacteria.
11. A method of promoting growth of environmentally stressed bacteria, the method comprising providing bacteria with an extract obtainable from or obtained from Musa spp.
12. A bacterial growth medium comprising an extract obtainable from or obtained from Musa spp.
13. The medium of claim 12 comprising minimal additional components.
14. The medium of claim 12 or 13 wherein the extract is present in the medium at a concentration of between 0.01 to 10%.
15. The medium of claim 14 wherein the extract is present at a concentration of 0.5 to 2%.
16. The medium of any of claims 12 to 15, for growth of Gram positive bacteria.
17. The medium of claim 16, for growth of lactic acid bacteria.
18. A bacterial growth supplement comprising an extract obtainable from or obtained from Musa spp.
19. The supplement of claim 18, formulated for addition to growth medium.
Rosario et al. teaches a method for producing ethanol in the presence of
extracted juice of ripe Cavendish banana fruit pulp by yeast where the yeast beads were
treated with the banana extract and used for fermentation (see entire publication and abstract especially Materials and Methods section, Results and Discussion section, and pages 819-20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and/or combine the reference teachings to make the claimed invention by modifying the method of WO2013067305 to include the method steps of WO2007052081 and Rosario et al. for ethanol fermentation using banana extract treated yeast at the recited temperature and fermentation conditions. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to do this in order to obtain a simple fermentation method for producing ethanol from a carbon source. It would have been obvious to adjust the fermentation temperature and use any sugar source such as potato, molasses, grain, and sugar cane as routine experimentation or as desired. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have a reasonable expectation of success in view of the reference teachings showing growth
with an extract obtainable from or obtained from Bananas. Hence, the claimed invention as a whole is prima facie obvious.
Conclusion
No claim is allowed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Christian L Fronda whose telephone number is (571)272 0929. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday and alternate Fridays between 9:00AM-5:00PM.
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, Robert Mondesi can be reached on (408)918-7584. 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.
/CHRISTIAN L FRONDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1652
Prosecution Insights