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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 Aug. 24, 2026, has been entered. Claims 1-20 are pending and are examined in this Office Action.
Claim Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities: there is an extra space in the second line between “method” and “,”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 19 is 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. Applicant’s arguments in the response received on Aug. 24, 2026, have been fully considered but were not found to be persuasive.
Claim 19 reads as follows: “A method of producing a commodity plant product, said method , wherein the product comprises growing a plant from the seed of claim 10, and producing said commodity plant product, wherein said product comprises protein concentrate, protein isolate, starch, meal, flour or oil from said plant.”
This claim language is identical to the claim language submitted in the after final response received on Aug. 4, 2026. As explained in the advisory action, this renders the claim indefinite because there are no active method steps. After the recitation of “said method” in line 2, there are no method steps at all. It is completely unclear what a practitioner would need to do to perform the claimed method. This is why the amendment was not entered after final.
Applicant asserts that they have amended the claim as suggested (Resp 1). This is incorrect. The Examiner suggested the following claim language as a way to overcome the indefiniteness rejection: - - A method of producing a commodity plant product, said method comprising growing a plant from the seed of claim 10 and producing said commodity plant product, wherein the product comprises protein concentrate, protein isolate, starch, meal, flour or oil from said plant. - - (Advisory Action, Continuation Sheet).
Summary
Claims 1-18 and 20 are allowed. Claim 19 is rejected.
Examiner’s Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CATHY KINGDON whose telephone number is (571)272-8784. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 - 5:30 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amjad A Abraham can be reached at (571) 270-7058. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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CATHY KINGDON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1663
/CATHY KINGDON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1663
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