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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 18June2026 has been entered.
Election/Restrictions
[Copied from Nonfinal Action dated 20October2025 →] Applicant's election with traverse of (A) the EPSPS mutation combination G172A, P177S, and V403A (= the third listed combination in claim 3 and corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 6 in claim 5), and (B) the plant type rice (Oryza sativa) in the reply filed on 22August2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the reference cited by the Office as evidencing that there is not a special technical feature amongst the claimed EPSPS mutants (CHEN et al.), “only discloses single mutants containing V403A and does not address the combination mutant schemes of the present application” (page 10 of the Remarks filed 22August2025). This is not found persuasive because (1) these claims are not limited to combinations of mutations (see claim 1) and (2) CHEN et al. does teach combinations of amino acid mutations (see the anticipation rejection herein below).
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Status of the Claims
The amendments and arguments filed 18June2026 are acknowledged and have been fully considered. Claims 1-2, 5-27, 31-107 are canceled. Please note that in the most-recently-filed (and examined claims) dated 16January2026, claims 25-107 were not recited or acknowledged within the file labelled “claims” by Applicant. The Examiner took this to mean that all of claims 25-107 were cancelled (see the “Comment on Claim Amendments” at ¶6 of the Final action 18March2026). Applicant asserts 18June2026 that those claims were just accidentally filed within the document labeled “specification” and not intended to be cancelled (note that claims 25-107 are listed within the “claims” file 18June2026):
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Claims 3-4, 28-30 are pending and examined on the merits herein. Claims 3-4 and 28 are currently amended. Claim 29 is original. Claim 30 was previously presented.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 365(c) [national stage entry of PCT/CN2021/074029 filed 28January2021] is acknowledged. Claims 3-4, 28-30 MAINTAIN an effective filing date of 28January2021.
Withdrawn Objections and/or Rejections
Rejections made of record in the final office action dated 18March2026 that are not otherwise discussed herein are withdrawn. In particular:
RE ¶ 7: The Utility rejection is withdrawn in view of the claimed subject matter being changed from a polynucleotide toward a recombinant DNA construct comprising that polynucleotide.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 3-4, 28-30 REMAIN rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CHEN et al. (US2019/0345464 filed 14November2019, which is an English language equivalent of CHEN et al. CN106636025).
CHEN et al. teach a mutant EPSPS polynucleotide encoding a V403A mutation (therein V342A)1 as well as a vector or rice plant/part comprising it [claims 28-30] for, for example, glyphosate resistance. CHEN et al. specifically teach a mutant EPSPS polynucleotide encoding a V403A mutation (therein V342A), G172A (therein G111A), and a P177S (therein P116S)2 [claims 3-4 as elected].
Response to Applicant’s Remarks 18June2026:
(1) Applicant repeats the argument that CHEN et al. supposedly regards only a combination of eight mutations and does not disclose, teach, or suggest the elected combination of G172A, P177S, and V403A conferring glyphosate tolerance (especially within the context of rice) (Remarks at pages 8-11 including the statement captured below from pages 9 and 11):
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This remains unpersuasive because, even if it were true that CHEN et al. does not demonstrate the elected three-mutant-combination conferring glyphosate tolerance; that is still not required by these claims which are written in open-ended format and do not require a functional effect. Applicant is arguing features of the claims which are not being recited.
(2) Applicant is arguing about resistance function and plant types (rice especially) (Remarks at page 11, as shown below).
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This is also not persuasive because these claims do not require a particular resistance function.
Conclusion
[Copied from the Nonfinal Action 20October2025 →] The following prior art is cited for the sake of a clear record:
CHEN et al. (US 2020/0377868) teach SEQ ID NO: 8 which is a mutant EPSPS sequence comprising G172A (there G111A) and P177S (there P116S) (please see Result 1 of the “20250616_140229_us-18-263-514a-6.rapbm” ABSS sequence search results file dated 16June2025.
DONG et al. (WO2017059045) is cited because it teaches mutant EPSPS sequences.
DONG et al. (WO2018/183050) is cited because it teaches mutant EPSPS sequences.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Rebecca STEPHENS whose telephone number is (571)272-0070. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:30-4:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amjad ABRAHAM can be reached at (571) 270-7058. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/REBECCA STEPHENS/Examiner, Art Unit 1663
/MATTHEW R KEOGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1663
1 See CHEN et al. at ¶¶6-24 on page 1; ¶¶33-56 on pages 2-3; ¶¶77-85 on page 4; as well as FIG. 3.
2 See CHEN et al. at ¶24 on page 1, ¶¶36 and 41 on page 2, ¶¶77, 79-80, 85 on page 4; as well as FIG. 3.
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