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
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s reply received 1/27/26. Claims 1, 4-10, and 12-16 are pending and considered on the merits.
Response to Applicant’s Arguments and Amendments
In the response submitted by the Applicant the following 35 U.S.C § 103 (a) rejections are withdrawn:
Claim(s) 1-3, and 6-14 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Petti et al. (WO 2021/092626) in view of Goodrich et al. (US 6277337);
Claim(s) 4 and 5 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Petti et al. (WO 2021/092626) and Goodrich et al. (US 6277337) as applied to claims 1-3, and 6-14 above, and further in view of Owusu-Ofori et al. (Shock, 2014).
The following 35 U.S.C. 112 rejections are withdrawn:
Claim 3 and 5 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth 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
The Applicant’s amendments to claim 1 and the data presented in Fig. 1 and Table 1 necessitated the above withdrawals. Test Example 1 (Specification [0039-0062]) shows duel exposure to 30 kHz sonication (low frequency sonication) and 311±50nm light with riboflavin significantly reduced S. Aureurs growth in blood than these treatments used alone. More importantly, the combined treatment reduced the growth synergistically since they total inhibition was more than the sum of each treatment individually. All arguments drawn to these rejections are now considered moot.
New Rejections Necessitated By Amendment
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Amended claim 1, 6 and 7 already limit the illumination wavelength to 311 ± 50nm. This means the limitations of claims 12 and 13 are repeated and do not further limit the parent claims. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Contact Attempted
Several attempts were made to contact the Applicant’s representatives on 4/17/26 and 4/22/26 to resolve this new 35 USC 112 4th issue. A message was given but no reply received. Someone did reach out to my SPE, Fereydoun Sajjadi, on 4/24/26. However, there was no reply after calling the number provided (+1 315-417-0043).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
In response to this office action the applicant should specifically point out the support for any amendments made to the disclosure, including the claims (MPEP 714.02 and 2163.06).
CONTACT INFORMATION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THANE E UNDERDAHL whose telephone number is (303) 297-4299. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday, M-F 8-5 MST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fereydoun Sajjadi can be reached at (571) 272-3311.The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THANE UNDERDAHL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1699
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