Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/291,621

METHODS FOR TREATING ACUTE MYELOID LEUKEMIA WITH ANTI-ILT3 ANTIBODIES

Non-Final OA §102§112§DP
Filed
Jan 24, 2024
Priority
Jul 28, 2021 — provisional 63/226,754 +1 more
Examiner
FONTAINHAS, AURORA M
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
38%
Grant Probability
At Risk
1-2
OA Rounds
6m
Est. Remaining
87%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants only 38% of cases
38%
Career Allowance Rate
188 granted / 496 resolved
-22.1% vs TC avg
Strong +49% interview lift
Without
With
+49.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
39 currently pending
Career history
539
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
9.6%
-30.4% vs TC avg
§103
31.5%
-8.5% vs TC avg
§102
14.0%
-26.0% vs TC avg
§112
24.7%
-15.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 496 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112 §DP
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 . Election/Restrictions Applicant’s election of Group I, claims 1-2, 5-23, 30-31, 37-38 and SEQ ID NOs: 10, 13, 16, 34, 36, 37, 140 and 149 in the reply filed on 7/29/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)). Claims 43-44 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/29/2026. Claims 1-2, 5-23, 30-31, 37-38 are under consideration in the instant Office Action. Information Disclosure Statement The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered. The IDS submitted on 6/17/2025 was reviewed and all references were considered but were lined through because they are duplicate and these references have already been considered in the other IDS. Claim Interpretation Claim 2 is interpreted as only requiring a subject with confirmed diagnosis of acute myelomonocytic leukemia or acute monoblastic/monocytic leukemia and the optional limitations are not required. 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 6-16 and 31 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. Claims 6-16 and 31 use the transitional term “having” or “has”. This term is problematic because it is not immediately clear whether open or closed claim language is intended, Crystal Semiconductor Corp. v. TriTech Microelectronics Int’l Inc., 246 F.3d 1336, 1348, 57 USPQ2d 1953, 1959 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (term “having” in transitional phrase "does not create a presumption that the body of the claim is open"); Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Eli Lilly & Co., 119 F.3d 1559, 1573, 43 USPQ2d 1398, 1410 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (in the context of a cDNA having a sequence coding for human PI, the term “having” still permitted inclusion of other moieties), see MPEP 2111.03. Applicant is encouraged to use transitional phrases “comprising of” or “consisting of” to define the scope of a claim with respect to what unrecited additional components, if any, are excluded from the scope of the claims. Using the correct transitional phrase would clarify exactly what the limitations are requiring as limitation or what is explicitly excluded. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a): (a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112: The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. Claims 1-2, 5-23 and 30-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Written Description. Claim 1 is directed to a method of treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML) comprising administering an anti-ILT3 antigen binding protein or antigen binding fragment which reads on any protein or antibody. Claim 5 claims an anti-ILT3 antigen binding protein or antigen binding fragment as an antibody with no specific structure. Claim 6 calls for a heavy chain variable domain (VH) comprises a heavy chain complementarity determining region (HC-CDR) 3 having an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 15, 16. 42, 50, 58, 66, 74, 82, 90, and 98, or having an amino acid sequence that has 3, 2, or 1 differences. Claims 7, 10-13, 21 call for half of the antibody or whole six CDRs with mutations, deletions, modifications or a variant thereof. As such, the instantly claimed method requires an antibody defined entirely by a variable structure. See MPEP §2163(I)(A) which states: "The claimed invention as a whole may not be adequately described where an invention is described solely in terms of a method of its making coupled with its function and there is no described or art recognized correlation or relationship between the structure of the invention and its function. A biomolecule sequence described only by a functional characteristic, without any known or disclosed correlation between that function and the structure of the sequence, normally is not a sufficient identifying characteristic for written description purposes, even when accompanied by a method of obtaining the claimed sequence.” In this case, antibodies generally share certain characteristics such as Fc regions or hinge regions. However, these structures are not correlated with the binding function of the antibody. The hyper variable regions (HVRs), i.e., complementarity determining regions (CDRs) of an antibody, are well established in the art as the portion of the binding region which imparts the specificity of an antibody. However, there is no way to a priori look at an antigen sequence (ITL3) and envisage the combination of six CDRs that will bind that antigen or especially only three CDRS or just the heavy or light chain. First, even highly related CDRs may not bind the same target. See for example Kussie (instant PTO-892) who demonstrates that a single amino acid change in the heavy chain of an antibody which binds p-axophenylarsonate (Ars) completely abrogates the ability of the antibody to bind Ars but adds the functionality of binding the structurally related p-azophenylsulfonate (e.g., abstract). Second, even when provided with several related antibodies that bind the desired target, this does not represent the astronomical and potentially unknowable breadth of all possible amino acid sequences which will result in the desired binding properties. This is exemplified by the Court decision in Abbvie (Abbvie v Janssen 759 F.3d 1285 (Fed. Cir. 2014)), where Abbvie developed over 200 antibodies that shared 99.5% identity in the variable regions (p.7) and which bound the target, but in no way allowed one to envisage the unique structure of Centocor’s antibodies which bound the same target but shared only 50% sequence similarity (see table on page 11). Thus, the art recognizes that the CDRs define the binding properties of an antibody and that even single amino acid changes to this region can completely abrogate the binding specificity of an antibody. As a further example, see Chen et al., 1995 (instant PTO-892) which demonstrates single amino acid changes in the VH CDR2 sequence can increase binding, decrease binding, destroy binding, or have no effect on binding when compared to the wild-type antibody. See also Koenig 2017 (instant PTO-892), which provides a large mutation analysis study where every amino acid in both variable regions are substituted with every other amino acid. Looking at figure 1 of Koenig, the bottom half of each section (labeled VEGF) relates to the ability of the mutant to bind the original target, with blue meaning a reduced affinity and black meaning a complete loss of binding ability. In VH-CDR2, for example, mutating any given residue to cysteine, which is encompassed by the instant claims, resulted in reduced binding at 12 residues and a complete loss of binding at 5 residues. That is, at 100% of the positions, mutation to cysteine reduced or ablated the antibody’s ability to bind the target. Looking at a specific position, in 100% of the mutations of residue 55, binding was reduced (15/19) or eliminated (4/19). While residues 56-65 appear more tolerant of change, residues 50-55 are generally intolerant of change. It is appreciated that Koenig is studying one specific antibody and there is no evidence that the instant antibodies would react in the same way. However, this is part of the problem. It is entirely unclear from the specification which residues of Applicant’s CDRs are tolerant or intolerant to change, and whether those tolerant positions are only tolerant to conservative mutations. The fact that some residues might tolerate mutation does not convey to the skilled artisan that Applicant knew which of the claimed residues were tolerant of such, i.e., does not convey that Applicant was in possession of those sequences which are mutated yet preserve the claimed function. In other words, the specification fails to convey possession of an invention commensurate in scope with what is now claimed and therefore fails to meet the written description requirement. Looking at Koenig figure 2A, ~200 mutations in the CDR region of the VH chain completely abrogates any binding. While 2B appears to indicate that the CDRs of VL are more tolerant of change than the heavy chain CDRs, still over half of the mutations reduce binding compared to the parent. Thus, making changes to the CDR sequence of an antibody is a highly unpredictable process and the skilled artisan could not a priori make any predictions regarding such mutations with any reasonable expectation of success nor envisage the breadth of structurally unrelated CDR combinations that would still possess the required functions. The specification discloses only a few antibodies which comprise a heavy chain immunoglobulin variable chain sequence and a light chain immunoglobulin variable chain sequence and specific six CDR combinations, see Table 3 and 4 for example. This claim language also sets forth a pick and choose variable for the instantly claimed antibodies while the instant specification only provides a specific combination of heavy and light chains for the claimed antibodies as disclosed in Table 3 and 4 of the instant specification. These sequences are the only disclosed variants associated by the capability of binding ILT3 protein. However, as discussed above, without any way to determine how broad the genus of such antibodies are, there is no way to determine if these antibodies represent the full breadth of what is claimed by what it binds or the variant language present. The disclosure of these specific antibodies would not convey to the artisan that Applicant was in possession of the full genus of all antibodies which possess the required structure nor does it allow the skilled artisan to envisage the specific structure of such antibodies due to the variant language present. The instantly claimed antibodies claimed by function alone or via the sequences or variants thereof only require the variant to have one or more amino acid substitutes and also encompasses other variant substitutions or mutations. This variant language also has a broader issue because the there is no structure/function correlation set forth in the instant claims 1-2, 5, 22-23 and 30 or independent claims only require a structure of an antibody with undisclosed modifications or mutations but no correlation to function to be able to determine the functionality of the claimed antibody be maintained. Further, independent claim 6 only requires one out of the six required CDRs of the antibody which further compounds the issue of written description. Therefore, these antibodies suffer from written description support in the instant specification. However, as stated above, arbitrarily altering any amino acid in the CDR of an antibody is unpredictable and the specification does not convey possession of any heavy or light chain immunoglobulin variable chain variants except for the ones disclosed in the instantly disclosed sequences. Further, it is well-known in the art that specificity of an antibody stems from the interaction of six specific CDRs. Moreover, CDRs are not generally recognized as interchangeable, such that using one CDR from one antibody would not be reasonably expected to confer the same binding properties or even the same binding target when combined with two to five CDRs from other antibodies. For example, WO 2008068048 (instant PTO-892) discloses an antibody with a heavy chain comprising three CDRs (SEQ ID NO: 2) that binds secreted aspartyl protease from Candida sp. US 20170355756 (instant PTO-892) describes the same three CDRs in the heavy chain (C10-VH3) combined with a different light chain that binds human TDP-43. There is no evidence in the instant specification that a single CDR placed in the context of two to five other CDRS, regardless of what those other CDRs are, would result in the required function, nor that a single chain is correlated to the required function when combined with any other chain. As such, the specification fails to set forth a structure-function correlation sufficient to claim all possible antibodies defined by function and one-three CDRs or alterations thereof. As such, the disclosure of a few antibody sequences does not convey possession of other antibodies with the same binding properties; possession of the precisely defined sequence of six CDRs is required. With respect to methods that require specific products, it is recognized that information which is well known in the art need not be described in detail in the specification (MPEP §2163(II)(A)(2)). See, e.g., Hybritech, Inc. v. Monoclonal Antibodies, Inc., 802 F.2d 1367, 1379-80, 231 USPQ 81, 90 (Fed. Cir. 1986). However, sufficient information must be provided to show that the inventor had possession of the invention as claimed. MPEP §2163(II)(A)(3)(a) also discusses Univ. of Rochester v. G.D. Searle & Co., 358 F.3d 916, 927, 69 USPQ2d 1886, 1894-95 (Fed. Cir. 2004), where a method of using a PGHS-2 inhibitor did not meet the written description as the inhibitor itself was not sufficiently described, clearly indicating that written description of the compound is still required in a method of using that compound. In this case, it is clear from the specification that the invention is in a new antibody, or at the least disclosure of a new antibody that could not have been envisaged from the prior art indicates that the prior art was not in possession of all “anti-ILT3 antibodies”. Thus, the prior art cannot provide sufficient written description of this genus of compounds and the specification as filed, disclosing a few antibodies, does not sufficiently describe the genus either as there is an unknown amount of structurally distinct antibodies in this genus. Without this guidance or direction, the skilled artisan would not consider applicant to be in possession of the claimed genus of antibodies because the skilled artisan recognizes that even seemingly minor changes made without guidance or direction as to the relationship between the particular amino acid sequence of the instantly claimed antibody and its ability to bind antigen, can dramatically affect antigen-antibody binding. Applicant has not described the claimed invention sufficiently to show they had possession of the claimed genus of an antibody without a function. Possession may not be shown by merely describing how to obtain possession of members of the claimed genus or how to identify their common structural features. See University of Rochester v. G.D. Searle & Co., 358 F.3d 916, 69 USPQ2d 1886 (Fed. Cir. 2004). The written description requirement for a claimed genus may be satisfied through sufficient description of a representative number of species by actual reduction to practice, reduction to drawings, or by disclosure of relevant, identifying characteristics, i.e., structure or other physical and/or chemical properties, by functional characteristics coupled with a known or disclosed correlation between function and structure, or by a combination of such identifying characteristics, sufficient to show the applicant was in possession of the claimed genus. A “representative number of species” means that the species which are adequately described are representative of the entire genus. Thus, when there is substantial variation within the genus, one must describe a sufficient variety of species to reflect the variation within the genus. What constitutes a "representative number" is an inverse function of the skill and knowledge in the art. Satisfactory disclosure of a "representative number" depends on whether one of skill in the art would recognize that the applicant was in possession of the necessary common attributes or features of the elements possessed by the members of the genus in view of the species disclosed. For inventions in an unpredictable art, adequate written description of a genus which embraces widely variant species cannot be achieved by disclosing only one species within the genus. To provide adequate written description and evidence of possession of the claimed genus, the specification must provide sufficient distinguishing identifying characteristics of the genus. The factors to be considered include disclosure of complete or partial structure, physical and/or chemical properties, functional characteristics, structure/function correlation, methods of making the claimed product, or any combination thereof. In the instant case, the only factors present in the claims are a recitation of one generic, broad genus that encompassed a diverse and huge number of possible antibodies that bind the disclosed epitope. The specification does not provide a consistent structure for all of the possible antibodies and fails to provide a representative number of species for the claimed genus. Accordingly, in the absence of sufficient recitation of distinguishing identifying characteristics, the specification does not provide adequate written description of the claimed genus. Vas-Cath Inc. v. Mahurkar, 19USPQ2d 1111, clearly states that “applicant must convey with reasonable clarity to those skilled in the art that, as of the filing date sought, he or she was in possession of the invention. The invention is, for purposes of the 'written description' inquiry, whatever is now claimed.” (See page 1117.) The specification does not “clearly allow persons of ordinary skill in the art to recognize that they invented what is claimed.” (See Vas-Cath at page 1116). With the exception of specifically disclosed antibodies with specific CDRs, the skilled artisan cannot envision the detailed chemical structure of all of the encompassed antibodies, and therefore conception is not achieved until reduction to practice has occurred, regardless of the complexity or simplicity of the method of isolation. Adequate written description requires more than a mere statement that it is part of the invention and reference to a potential method of isolating it. The product itself is required. See Fiers v. Revel, 25 USPQ2d 1601 at 1606 (CAFC 1993) and Amgen Inc. v. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., 18 USPQ2d 1016. One cannot describe what one has not conceived. See Fiddes v. Baird, 30 USPQ2d 1481 at 1483. In Fiddes, claims directed to mammalian FGF's were found to be unpatentable due to lack of written description for that broad class. Applicant is reminded that Vas-Cath makes clear that the written description provision of 35 U.S.C. §112 is severable from its enablement provision (see page 1115). Therefore, claims 1-2, 5-23 and 30-31 do not meet the written description requirement. 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. (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-2 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Suciu-Foca et al., US2015/0110714 (IDS). Suciu-Foca teaches treating ILT3-expressing cancers by administering therapeutically effective amounts of an antibody that selectively binds to the ILT3 on the surface of the cancer cells (see [009]) and that the cancers include acute myeloid leukemia (AML; see [005],[0132] and claims 21 and 25) and reads on instant claims 1-2 and 5. Claims 1-2, 5, 22-23 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Crawley et al., US2021/0221887 (IDS). Crawley teaches treating ILT3-expressing cancers by administering therapeutically effective amounts of an antibody that selectively binds to the ILT3 (see [0059], [0062]) and that the cancers include acute myeloid leukemia (AML; see [0059) and reads on instant claims 1-2 and 5. Crawley teaches the administration of anti-ILT3 antibody at 10mg/kg 9see [00448]) and reads on instant claims 22-23. Crawley teaches Crawley teaches the administration of anti-ILT3 antibody at 3 weeks (see [0360]) and reads on claim 30. Double Patenting The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969). A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b). The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13. The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer. Claims 1-2, 5-23, 30-31, 37-38 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-15 of U.S. Patent No. 12,435,133. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because ‘133 claims the method of treating leukemia with the same antibody against ITL3. While ‘133 does not explicitly teach acute myeloid leukemia, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill the art that a method of treating leukemia would also be capable of treating acute myeloid leukemia as required in the instant claims. Claims 1-2, 5-23, 30-31, 37-38 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-13 of U.S. Patent No. 12,441,792. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because ‘792 claims the method of treating leukemia with the same antibody against ITL3. While ‘792 does not explicitly teach acute myeloid leukemia, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that a method of treating leukemia would also be capable of treating acute myeloid leukemia as required in the instant claims. Claims 1-2, 5-23, 30-31, 37-38 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-3, 5, 7-8,10-11,13, 15, 19, 21-23, 30, 43,45-47 of copending Application No. 18/998,702. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because ‘702 claims the method of treating chronic myelomonocytic leukemia with the same antibody against ITL3. While ‘702 does not explicitly teach acute myeloid leukemia, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that a method of treating chronic myelomonocytic leukemia would also be capable of treating acute myeloid leukemia as required in the instant claims. This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented. Claims 1-2, 5-23, 30-31, 37-38 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 2, 19, 21, 27-28, 31, 33, 55,of copending Application No. 18/550,537. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because ‘537 claims the method of treating cancer with the same antibody against ITL3. While ‘537 does not explicitly teach acute myeloid leukemia, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill that art that a method of treating cancer would also be capable of treating acute myeloid leukemia as required in the instant claims. This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented. Conclusion No claims are allowed. Advisory Information Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AURORA M. FONTAINHAS whose telephone number is 571-272-2952. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday (8AM - 4PM). 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, Jeffrey Stucker can be reached on (571)272-0911. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. /AURORA M FONTAINHAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1675
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 24, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 25, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §112, §DP (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
38%
Grant Probability
87%
With Interview (+49.2%)
3y 3m (~6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 496 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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