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 .
This action is in response to the amendments filed 02/20/2026.
Election/Restrictions
Newly submitted claim 48 directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed for the following reasons: the groups of inventions do not relate to a single general inventive concept under PCT Rule 13.1 because, under PCT Rule 13.2, they lack the same or corresponding special technical features; the technical feature required by the group of inventions is not a special technical feature as it does not make a contribution over the prior art.
Since applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention, this invention has been constructively elected by original presentation for prosecution on the merits. Accordingly, claim 48 is withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 CFR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
To preserve a right to petition, the reply to this action must distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement. Otherwise, the election shall be treated as a final election without traverse. Traversal must be timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are subsequently added, applicant must indicate which of the subsequently added claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
Claims 20-23, 26, 29-32, 34, 39-48 are pending. Claims 1-19, 24-25, 27-28, 33, 35-38 are canceled. Claims 20-23, 26, 29-32, 39-47 are being examined. Claims 34 and 48 are withdrawn from further consideration as being drawn to non-elected inventions. Claims 20, 31 are amended and claims 39-47 are newly added with no new subject matter being introduced.
No claim text shall be presented for any claim in the claim listing with the status of "canceled". Claims 24-25 are canceled but include text.
New grounds of rejection are made in light of the amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 20-23, 26, 29-32, and 39-47 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.
Claims 20 and 43 recite the limitation “Z is N”. However, the structure of formula (I) does not comprise Z. It is unclear whether “Z” refers to Z1, Z2, or Z3 in the formula. For the purpose of examination, the claims will be interpreted such that “Z” refers to Z1, Z2, and/or Z3 in the formula.
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)(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 20 and 40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bong (KR20210103988 A).
Considering claims 20 and 40, Bong teaches a compound including at least one structure of formula (I) wherein Arb comprises a 5-membered ring comprising W2 (Bong, page 19 compound 202).
Claims 20 and 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 2022/0153758 A1).
Considering claims 20 and 41, Kim teaches a compound including at least one structure of formula (I) wherein V1 and V2 for a ring of the claimed formula and Arc comprises a 5-membered ring comprising W3 (Kim, 1st two compound of [0236] on page 12, page 416 1st compound of 2nd column).
Claims 20 and 44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 2020/0388770 A1).
Considering claims 20 and 41, Lee teaches a compound including at least one structure of formula (I) wherein at least one of Z2 or Z3 is B (Lee, claim 13 TD-2).
Claims 20 and 47 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Schaefer (WO 2020/217229 A1).
Considering claims 20 and 47, Schaefer teaches a compound including at least one structure of formula (I) wherein each of V1 and V4 is N (Schaefer, page 384 compound 11).
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)(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.
Claims 20 and 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huang (WO 2019/128599 A1).
Considering claims 20 and 43, Huang teaches a compound including at least one structure of formula (I) wherein Z in N (Huang, 1st compound on page 10).
Claims 20 and 45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hatakeyama et al. (US 2018/0069182 A1).
Considering claims 20 and 45, Hatakeyama teaches a compound including at least one structure of formula (I) wherein the rings Ara and Arb together form a ring system (Hatakeyama, page 18 compound I-62).
Claims 20 and 46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Duan (CN 110407858 A).
Considering claims 20 and 46, Duan teaches a compound including at least one structure of formula (I) wherein one of V2 and V3 forms a ring system with one X1 (Duan, page 4 compound C-1).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANITA NASSIRI-MOTLAGH whose telephone number is (571)270-7588. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-3:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Johnson can be reached at 571-272-1177. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANITA NASSIRI-MOTLAGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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