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
Responsive to claim set of 11/30/2022
Claims pending 1-12
Claims currently under consideration 1-12
Priority
This application was filed 11/30/2022 and does not claim priority to any earlier applications.
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.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Saka et al (2021 Nature Scientific Reports 11:5852 thirteen pages).
Saka et al teach throughout the document and especially the abstract, figure 1 and table 1, all as detailed in the method section, a computer and SPR (surface plasmon resonance) experimental system for generating a plurality of new antibody sequences from a single lead (parent control) antibody, the Saka system comprises: a server communicable coupled with a database, the server necessarily has a processor configured to: receive the single lead antibody sequence and/or others, wherein the lead antibody sequence includes framework regions (FR) complementarity and determining regions (CDR), such sequence(s) are used to train a Long Short-Term Memory neural network model by pre-processing then therewith process the lead antibody sequence to identify FR and CDR segment locations (identify relationships) within the lead antibody sequence; and generate a plurality of amino acid sequences by such pre-trained model based on the identified relationships and a structural pattern (FRs are constant immunoglobulin beta strands and CDRs are variable antigen binding loops) being transferred to each new antibody sequence, vis-a-vis figure 9 with relevance depicted in a computer generated logo plot and/or table 3 with KD is measured by SPR. The foregoing reads on claims 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-12 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1,2,4-6,9,10,11,13-15,18 of copending Application No. 18/060187.
Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because said present claims are drawn to systems and methods for generating a plurality of new antibody sequences comprising FR and CDR segments from a single lead antibody using a pre-trained model each constitute a genus of the species systems and methods of assembling (concatenating) such sequences recited in the conflicting claims of ‘187.
This is a provisional obviousness-type double patenting rejection.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: In accordance with MPEP 608.01(m), a claim begins with a capital letter and end with a period, whereas claim 1 capitalizes Receiving, Processing and Generating.
Claims 5 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities: In line 2 of each claim, closing parentheses appear to be a typographical mistake or else opening parentheses are missing.
Appropriate corrections are required.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER M GROSS whose telephone number is (571)272-4446. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Heather Calamita can be reached on (571)272-2876. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER M GROSS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1684