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 .
Claims 1-4 have been presented for examination on the merits.
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 14 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 claims are generally narrative and indefinite, failing to conform with current U.S. practice. They appear to be a literal translation into English from a foreign document and are replete with grammatical and idiomatic errors.
A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claims 1-4 recite the broad recitation disease of the upper and lower respiratory tracts, and the claim also recites such as viral and/or bacterial infections, which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
Claims 1-4 are indefinite for reciting the term “such as”. The term” such as” renders the claim scope indefinite as it is not clear if this is the full scope or an example.
Claim Interpretation
An intended use will not limit the scope of the claim because it merely defines a context in which the invention operates. (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. v. Schering-Plough Corp., 320 F.3d 1339, 1345 (Fed. Cir. 2003)). Moreover “the patentability of apparatus or composition claims depends on the claimed structure, not on the use or purpose of that structure.” (Catalina Mktg. Int’l, v. Coolsavings.com, Inc., 289 F.3d 801, 809 (Fed. Cir. 2002).
Note, the intended use of the claimed product has not been given patentable weight, because the prior art’s product is the same or would be capable of performing said use.
Claims 1-4 are directed to a plasma-activated liquid media, for use in the treatment of ….. . The for use in treatment is an intended use limitation. Claim 2 is directed to the plasma-activated liquid media of claim 1 characterized by the use thereof as a mouthwash or gargle solution. This is also an intended use limitation. Claim 3’s liquid media is characterized by the use thereof in the form of a respirable liquid… This is an intended use limitation. Claim 4 recites the said plasma-activated liquid characterized by the use thereof as an aerosol or spray. This is an intended use limitation. Also, delivery of the claimed product by a device does not impart any material or structural limitation on the claimed product. Natural inhalation includes breathing in air.
Claims 1-4 also provide a recitation in parenthesis. Only reference characters and Abbreviations are placed in a parenthesis and not claim limitations. Accordingly, the recitations are not considered part of the claims.
Thus, claims 1-4 are essentially examined a s a plasm-activated liquid media.
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wong et al (In situ generation of plasma-activated aerosols via surface acoustic wave nebulization for portable spray-based surface bacterial inactivation).
Wong et al teach the presence of reactive species in plasma-activated water is known to induce oxidative stresses in bacterial species, which can result in their inactivation. By integrating a microfludic chipscale nebulizer driven by surface acoustic waves (SAWs) with a low-temperature atmospheric plasma source, we demonstrate an efficient technique for in situ production and application of plasma-activated aerosols for surface disinfection (See abstract and the entire disclosure).
It is disclosed that plasma-activated water (also commonly referred to as plasma-treated water) has been demonstrated as a viable alternative to the aforementioned techniques for bacterial inactivation. And that “these species can dissolve in the liquid in contact with the plasma and can have antimicrobial effects by inducing high oxidative stresses on bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Hafnia alvei, etc” (See Page 1856, 2nd para and the paragraph bridging columns 1 and 2 of page 1857).
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guo et al (Plasma-activated water: An alternative disinfectant for S protein inactivation to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection).
Guo et al teach that SARS-CoV-2 is a highly contagious virus and is causing a global pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 infection depends on the recognition of and binding to the cellular receptor human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) through the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein, and disruption of this process can effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 invasion. plasma-activated water efficiently inactivates bacteria and bacteriophages by causing damage to biological macromolecules. In this study, pseudoviruses with the SARS-CoV-2 S protein were used as a model, and plasma-activated water (PAW) effectively inhibited pseudovirus infection through S protein inactivation (See abstract).
Guo et al teach that the biological effect of plasma is dose-dependent, which is important in the application of plasma biomedicine. Plasma-activated water (PAW) prepared by the plasma treatment of water also efficiently inactivated T4, ɸ174, and MS2 bacteriophages and exhibited an effect similar to that of the direct plasma treatment. Su et al. demonstrated that the treatment of Newcastle disease virus with PAW effectively decreased its infectivity. The microbial inactivation activity of PAW is attributed to the storage of reactive species in water, which has advantages of precise control of reactive species dosage and uniformity, as well as facilitating the therapy of infectious diseases in deep tissue such as abdominal infection (See Page 1, 2nd para, 2nd col).
Claims 1-4 are rejected.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mina Haghighatian whose telephone number is (571)272-0615. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7-5 EST.
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/Mina Haghighatian/
Mina Haghighatian
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1616