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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election without traverse of Species B, claims 10-11, 13-14, 17 and 21-22 in the reply filed on 08/27/2025 is acknowledged. Claims 1-9, 12, 15-16, 18-20 and 23-29 have been cancelled. Claims 10-11, 13-14, 17 and 21-22 are currently under examination on the merits.
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 11 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 11 is rejected as being vague and indefinite when these claims recite "a final concentration of 0.1% -10% of said oxidizing agent” because the base of the percentage is not clear, it could be by weight, by volume, or weight over total volume. In this office action, it is taken that the percentage is the weight of the oxidizing agent over total volume of the final suspension as used in the following cited prior art.
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 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.
Claims 10-11, 13-14, 17 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liddell et al (US 5,691,174, ‘174 hereafter).
Regarding claims 10-11, 13-14, 17 and 21-22, ‘174 discloses a method for providing a source of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) comprising heating a suspension of microorganisms containing PHA (Example 1); exposing said heated suspension of PHA-containing microorganisms to hydrogen peroxide as oxidizing agent (Example 1), which inherently has oxidation-reduction potential, pH and molar mass as recited in the present claim 13; and maintaining said heated suspension of PHA-containing microorganisms in contact with said oxidizing agent for 10 hours at a temperature of 80°C and pH at 7 (Example 1) to condition and lyse said microorganisms thereby releasing PHA and non-polymer cell mass (NPCM); wherein the PHA includes poly(3-hydrobutyrate), poly(3-hydrovalerate and its copolymer (Example 1), and the cell contains 71.5wt% PHAs of dry cell weight (Example 1). The concentration of oxidizing agent is at 5.0 % wt/V satisfying the limitations of present claim 11 (Example 1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RUIYUN ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7934. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00-5:00 PM.
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/RUIYUN ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782