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
Response to Amendment
1. The amendment filed on 07/06/2026 has been made of record and entered.
Claims 1-16, 19-23, & 26-28 have been canceled.
Claims 17-18, 24-25, & 29-31 have been amended.
Claims 17-18, 24-25, & 29-32 are currently pending in this application.
Status of Withdrawn Claim(s)
2. Claim 32 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventio(s), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/07/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102(a)(1)/103
3. 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Ravn et al. (US 2009/0162278 A1), hereinafter “Ravn et al.”.
Ravn et al. discloses high specific radionuclides (see p. 33, claim 1).
The instant claim is directed to “high specific radionuclides” product produced by a process (of claim 17) without including the characteristics or properties of the product claimed, while the product of the reference is made by a different method the product disclosed by Ravn et al. is the same as the claimed product. In accordance with the MPEP, Chapter 2100, the patentability of the product claims are based on the properties of the product itself in terms of its composition, structure, etc. NOT on how the product is made. Currently, there is no product limitation being claimed to distinguish the claimed product from that disclosed by the prior art reference. See In re Brown, 173 USPQ 685, In re Fessmann, 180 USPQ 324, In re Spada, 15 USPQ 2d 1655, In re Fitzgerald, 205 USPQ 594 and MPEP 2113.
Response to Applicants’ Arguments
4. Applicants’ remarks submitted with the amendment on 07/06/2026 have been fully reviewed, the amendments to the claims appeared overcome the rejection(s) and/or objection(s) made in the last office action (dated 03/19/2026).
Reason(s) for allowance of the claimed subject matter can be found on page 8 of the last office action (dated 03/19/2026).
Applicants’ amendment to claim 17 changes the scope of the invention previously examined and thus a new ground of rejection has been made to claim 31. See rejection section above for detailed explanation.
5. 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.
Conclusion
6. Claims 17-18, 24-25, & 29-32 are pending. Claims 17-18, 24-25, & 29-30 are allowed. Claim 31 is rejected. Claim 32 is withdrawn.
Contacts
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner CAM N. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1357. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8:30 am – 5:00 pm) at alternative worksite or at cam.nguyen@uspto.gov.
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, Anthony Zimmer, can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Cam N. Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/CNN/
August 21, 2026
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