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 .
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.
Response to Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (claims 1-6) in the reply filed on 12/29/2025 is acknowledged.
The reference of Marshall et al. discloses all limitations of the special technical feature recited in claim 1 including 2H2O enriched water and H218O depleted water, see the detailed discussion below.
Since the special technical feature is disclosed by the prior art, that special technical feature does not provide a contribution over the prior art. Further, because PCT Rule 13. 2 states that a lack of unity exists when the special technical feature does not provide a contribution over the prior art, and because the examiner has disclosed references which teach this special technical feature, a proper assertion has been made that there exists lack of unity. See the detailed discussion below.
Claims 9-13 are withdrawn from consideration.
Claims 1-6 read on the elected group. Claims 7-8 and 14-14 previously have been cancelled.
Claim Interpretation
Regarding claim 3, according to the limitations recited in the instant claim 1, the H218O depleted water recited in claim 3 is consider as greater than 0% H218O.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim 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 terms "enriched" and "depleted" in claims 1-6 are relative terms which render the claims indefinite. The terms are not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The scope of these terms is impossible to determine because there is no indication of what complexities, and sizes are included/excluded. Appropriated corrections are required.
Regarding claims 2-3, they fails to indicate whether the percentage are calculated based on a total composition, each component of starting reagents or final product, and percentage of volume, a weight or a molar.
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 1-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Marshall et al. (Frontiers in Plant Science, 11, 2020, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00358 ).
Regarding claim 1, Marshall et al. teach isotopic composition of tree Xylem water comprising δ18O xylem values are depleted in 18O, -2.8+/- 1.5‰, the δ 2H xylem values increased from initial source water values (natural abundance) to the labeled water value δ 2H =5.3 +/- 3.0‰ enriched (pages 7-8).
Regarding claim 2, as discussed above, Marshall et al. teach the enriched 2H2O % greater than 0.02% as the instant claim (pages 7-8).
Regarding claim 3, as discussed above, Marshall et al. teach the depleted H218O greater than 0.0% as the instant claim (pages 7-8).
Regarding claim 5, as discussed above, Marshall et al. teach 2H2O enriched and H218O depleted in a single composition of xylem water as the instant claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 6 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, and overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YUN QIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5834. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 10:00am-4:00pm.
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YUN . QIAN
Examiner
Art Unit 1732
/YUN QIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1738