DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 specifying traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 12/05/2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.03(a)). The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 4-9, 12, 14 and 16-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Applicant’s election without specifying traverse of a single species in the reply filed on 12/05/2025 is also acknowledged.
Applicant indicates that the elected species reads upon claims 1-3. However, the elected species also appears to read on Formula I(B) as recited by claim 13 wherein X is S, R2-R6 are H, n is 6, m is 1, p is 0, and r is 0. As such, the elected species is determined to read upon claims 1-3 and 13, and claims 10-11 and 15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Expansion of Election of Species Requirement
Applicant’s elected species:
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reads upon claims 1-3 and 13.
The elected species has been searched and is deemed to be free of the prior art and non-obvious.
Accordingly, the search has been expanded as called for under current Office Markush practice – a compound-by-compound search – to include a single additional species (M.P.E.P. § 803.02). That species is
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wherein, in Formula I, X is S; Y is NH; W is CH2; R1 is substituted aryl; R2-R6 are independently hydrogen; R7 is substituted aryl; R8 is hydrogen; n is 1 and m is 1 – which reads on claim 1. A rejection to that claim follows.
Since the search has not been expanded beyond the single additional species identified above, claims 2-3 and 13, which are directed to the elected species but which do not include the single additional species, are objected to as indicated below, and have not been further examined.
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 Chowdhury et al (WO 2008/101029).
Claim 1 is drawn to a compound of Formula I which embraces the following compound species
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wherein X is S; Y is NH; W is CH2; R1 is substituted aryl; R2-R6 are independently hydrogen; R7 is substituted aryl; R8 is hydrogen; n is 1 and m is 1.
Chowdhury et al teach the instantly claimed compound (Page 80, Synthetic Example 3).
Accordingly, claim 1 is anticipated.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-3 are objected to as depending from a rejected base claim.
Claims 2-3 and 13, which are directed to the elected species but which do not include the single additional species, are further objected to as containing non-elected subject matter, and have not been further examined.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CRAIG D RICCI whose telephone number is (571) 270-5864. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday, and every other Friday, 7:30 am - 5:00 pm ET. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bethany Barham can be reached on (571) 272-6175. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CRAIG D RICCI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1611