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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 5 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In Claim 1, last line, the article “a” should be “the”.
In Claim 5, between the terms “product” and “using”, an appropriate past participle such as “prepared”, “manufactured”, etc., should be inserted.
Appropriate corrections are 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 5 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.
Claim 5 recites “[a] plant fermented product using a plant fermented broth manufactured by a method according to claim 1.” Claim 5 is vague and indefinite because it is not clear if “a plant fermented product” produced from the method of claim 1 refers to the plant fermented product obtained from with the second or the third fermentation step. For example, KR 102065584 B1, cited in IDS, discloses tomato fermented juice with a Lactobacillus bacteria and its natural sugar and water from the fruit, which is further fermented with the same bacteria strain. The tomato fermented liquid here may be considered “a plant fermented product” prepared a plant fermented broth. Applicant discloses in the specification “various plant materials that can be easily obtained from nature can be used in various states such as unprocessed raw materials, dried materials, powder, and sugar-pickled materials, and main parts of plants such as fruits, stems, leaves, roots and peels can be easily utilized to obtain plant fermented products that are rich in absorbable polyphenols and various physiologically active substances produced by lactic acid bacteria.“ See published application, [0019]. In such a case, the fermented tomato juice could be considered a plant fermented material, prepared in a fermented broth. Due to the ambiguity of the term “a plant fermented product” claim 5 is not further treated for merits.
Conclusion
Claims 1-4 are free of prior art.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Kim et al. (KR 20020024197 A, published March 29, 2002) disclose a high functional fermented starch products firstly fermenting a crop with microorganisms including yeast and secondly fermenting the fermented crop. Lactobacillus acidophilus. JP H0655120 B2 (July 27, 1994) discloses beverage containing bacillus natto; the reference teaches fermented natto liquid is further aged with sugar and fruit juice.
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/GINA C JUSTICE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1617