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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I, claims 1-14, in the reply filed on 2025 September 9 is acknowledged.
Claims 15 and 16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 2025 September 9.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2022 December 9, 2024 January 11, and 2025 September 2 were submitted in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-13 are objected to because of the following informalities: they each recite an intended use of a compound or composition. As an example, the intended use in claim 3 is “relieves muscle contraction by inhibiting the release of a neurotransmitter.
In re Tuominen (213 USPQ 89) states the following:
The composition is the same no matter what its intended use is, and consequently, the appealed claims are not seen to distinguish over the art which also discloses a composition of the recited active ingredient. We will not construe the instant claims to be limited to compositions also containing other ingredients usually utilized in sunscreening compositions merely by the fact that the introductory clause of the claims recites a different contemplated utility for the claimed composition not taught by the art. Rather, as done by the Examiner, we interpret the claims to be drawn to a composition of the active ingredients, per se, and, as such, under the rationale of Pearson, they fail to distinguish over the references.
When Tuominem is applied to claims 3-13, the intended use recited in each of the claims does not limit the use of the claim as recited.
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.
Claims 1 and 3-14 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 1 and 3-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are: the conjugation method between a peptide of sequence ID no. 1 and trolox. In an analysis of sequence ID no. 1, any one of three amino groups can react with the carboxyl group of trolox. Alternatively, the carboxyl group of sequence ID no. 1 can react with the hydroxy group of trolox. Claims 1 and 3-14 do not specify which one of four reactions is taking place to from a conjugate between sequence ID no. 1 and trolox.
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Sequence ID No. 1
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400
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Trolox
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 3-14 are not allowed.
Claim 2 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: CHUNG (EP 4166564, published 2023 April 19) describes a seq ID number 1 and trolox conjugate (page 6, paragraph [0046]). This reference is not prior art because the inventive entity is the same as the examined application and is published after the effective filing date of the examined application, 2021 June 11, and has the same filing date of the examined application.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NOBLE E JARRELL whose telephone number is (571)272-9077. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
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/NOBLE E JARRELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1699