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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hombo et al. EP 3679805 A1.
Hombo teaches a magnesium-containing colorless transparent beverage with a pH of 4.0 or more, which is characterized in that the sliminess coming from magnesium felt upon drinking is reduced. The beverage further comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of vanillin, ethyl vanillin, maltol, and ethyl maltol. Any two or three or all of these components may be present in the beverage. The origins of vanillin, ethyl vanillin, maltol, and ethyl maltol used in this invention are not limited. See Abstract, Claims and paragraphs 0009-0015.
Claims Allowable
Claims 2-14 are 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.
Correspondence
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/SUSAN T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1615