DETAILED ACTION
This communication responds to the application and claim set filed January 9, 2023, and the Response to Restriction Requirement filed January 7, 2026. Claims 1-13 and 15-21 are currently pending.
Non-elected claims 1-13 are WITHDRAWN.
Elected claims 15-21 are REJECTED for the reasons set forth below.
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 III, claims 15-21, in the reply filed on January 7, 2026, is acknowledged.
Priority
This application is the national stage entry of PCT/KR2021/006081, filed May 14, 2021, which claims priority to KR 10-2020-0085447, filed July 10, 2020, and KR 10-2021-0016939, filed February 5, 2021. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
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.
Claims 15-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement.
Claims 15-21 contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Specifically, claims 15-21 recite a method for detecting “illicit drugs.” Applicant broadly defines “illicit drugs” as the following:
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(Published Specification, paras. [0018]-[0019].) However, the only drug detected in the examples is GHB. Given the broad definition of “illicit drugs,” as well as the wide variety of chemical structures of the listed drugs, Applicant has not provided sufficient disclosure indicating that the method of claims 15-21 detects drugs other than GHB.
Claims 15-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 15-21, it is not clear what the scope of “illicit” is. The definition of “illicit” may change over time, and therefore which “illicit drugs” would fall under the scope of the present claims may change. For example, cocaine was not always illegal in the United States, and it is arguable that marijuana is no longer illicit. “Illicit” is ill-defined in the Specification, and, even if it were adequately defined, could easily change over the life of any patent granted on this application.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CATHERINE S BRANCH whose telephone number is (571)270-3539. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday.
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CATHERINE S. BRANCH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1763
/CATHERINE S BRANCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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