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 .
Status of the Claims
The amendments received on 07/21/2026 have been entered. Claims 3, 5-6, and 9-17 are pending.
Claims 3, 5-6, 10, and 15 have been amended.
Claims 3, 5-6, and 9-17 are examined in this Office action.
Objections/Rejections that are Withdrawn
The Objections to claims 3, 10, 12, and 15 have been withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendment to the claims.
The 35 USC 112(b) Indefiniteness rejection of claim 11 has been withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendment to the claim.
The 35 USC 112(a) Written Description rejection of claims 3, 5-6, and 9-17 has been withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendment to the claims.
The 35 USC 112(a) Scope of Enablement rejection of claims 3, 5-6, and 9-17 has been withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendment to the claims.
Claim Objections
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities: it is suggested to delete the comma after “claim 3” and before the period at the end of the claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(d)
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.
Failure to Further Limit
Claims 5 and 6 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. This is a new rejection necessitated by amendment.
Claim 3, upon which claims 5 and 6 depend, is drawn to a chimeric transcriptional enhancer comprising a plant transcriptional enhancer and a viral transcriptional enhancer, and comprising sequence SEQ ID NO: 78. The chimeric transcriptional enhancer of SEQ ID NO: 78 comprises 1836bp – the plant transcriptional enhancer of SEQ ID NO: 18 from 1-1449bp, and the viral transcriptional enhancer of SEQ ID NO: 30 from 1456-1836bp. Therefore, the plant transcriptional enhancer can only be SEQ ID NO: 18, and the viral transcriptional enhancer can only be SEQ ID NO: 30 in order to arrive at a chimeric transcriptional enhancer comprising SEQ ID NO: 78. Thus claims 5 and 6 fail to further limit claim 3.
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.
Response to Applicant’s Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 07/21/2026 with respect to claims 3, 5-6, and 9-17 are acknowledged, but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Summary
Claims 3, 9-12, and 14-17 are allowed.
Claim 13 is objected to.
Claims 5 and 6 are rejected.
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.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTINA MEADOWS whose telephone number is (703)756-1430. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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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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CHRISTINA MEADOWS
Examiner
Art Unit 1663
/CHRISTINA L MEADOWS/Examiner, Art Unit 1663
/Amjad Abraham/SPE, Art Unit 1663
