CTNF 18/406,336 CTNF 73627 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. DETAILED ACTION 1. The Office acknowledges the receipt of Applicant’s Request for Continued Examination filed April 30, 2026. Claims 1-17 are pending and are examined. All previous rejections not set forth below have been withdrawn. 07-103 AIA The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action. Duty of Disclosure 2. Applicant is reminded of their “Duty of Disclosure, Candor, and Good Faith” ( see 37 C.F.R. § 1.56 and MPEP § 2001). Information that would be considered pertinent to patentability includes: 1) any progeny or sibling of the claimed line in another patent-type document or in a publication; 2) all other names for the claimed line and its parents; and 3) the homozygosity or heterozygosity of the parents and the claimed line. This information can be submitted in an Information Disclosure Statement with a notation of the relevancy to the instant application. Specification 3. The disclosure is objected to because of the following: The deposit information on page 41 recites “ATCC”. However, the deposit was made with NCMA. Claim Objections 4. Claims 14 and 15 are objected to because of the following: In claim 14(a), it is suggested “CL2044163” be deleted. In claim 14(a), it is suggested “another” be amended to “a” because “another” suggests that “line CL2044163” is a variety. In claim 14(c), it is suggested “the CL2044163 plants” be amended to “plants of line CL2044163”. Dependent claim 15 is included. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b) 07-34-01 5. Claims 14 and 15 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. In claim 14(b), it is unclear what traits are selected for in the F1 progeny plants. It is suggested that (b) recites “selecting one or more F1 progeny plants from step (a) that have the single locus. With regard to claim 15, because step (e) is optional, the method of claim 14 does not produce a plant comprising the single locus conversion and otherwise all the physiological and morphological characteristics of soybean line CL2044163. Moreover, the recitation of “repeating” is unclear because none of the previous steps requires “crossing with a plant of soybean line CL2044163”. In the previous steps, “crossing with a plant of soybean line CL2044163” is presented in the alternative. Clarification and/or correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a) 07-31-02 AIA 6. Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention. Claim 15, directed to a plant produced by the method of claim 14, is not fully enabled for the following reasons. The scope of claim 14 is as follows. In claim 14(a), a plant of line CL2044163 is crossed with a genetically different plant comprising a single locus to produce hybrid F1 progeny plants having half of the chromosomes of line CL2044163 and having morphological and physiological characteristics that are likely significantly different from those of line CL2044163. Claim 14(b) is directed to selecting hybrid F1 progeny plants. Claim 14(c) recites selfing the hybrid F1 progeny plants, which would produce plants having half of the chromosomes of line CL2044163 and having morphological and physiological characteristics that are significantly different from those of line CL2044163. Claim 14(d) is directed to selecting selfed plants that having the single locus from the donor parent and some of the physiological and morphological characteristics of soybean line CL2044163. Step (e) is an optional step. None of the steps of claim 14 requires backcrossing with a plant of soybean line CL2044163. The art teaches three absolute requirements for a successful backcross program: the recurrent parent is an inbred line, high heritability of the gene being transferred, and a sufficient number of backcrosses (Plant & Soil Sciences eLibrary 2023, downloaded Aug. 26, 2023 (U)). Here, none of the steps of claim 14 requires backcrossing to line CL2044163. The backcrossing to line CL2044163 is only presented as an alternative in steps (c) and (d). Claim 14 also does not address the number of backcrosses to produce a plant comprising the single locus and otherwise comprising all the physiological and morphological characteristics of soybean line CL2044163. Applicant has no working example or evidence that the method of claim 14 can produce the plant of claim 15. Accordingly, Applicant has not enabled the plant of claim 15 as commensurate in scope with the claims without undue experimentation. Conclusion 7. Claims 14 and 15 are rejected. Claims 1-13, 16 and 17 are allowable. 8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUONG T BUI whose telephone number is (571)272-0793. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm. 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, Amjad Abraham can be reached on 571-270-7058. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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. /PHUONG T BUI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1663 Application/Control Number: 18/406,336 Page 2 Art Unit: 1663 Application/Control Number: 18/406,336 Page 3 Art Unit: 1663 Application/Control Number: 18/406,336 Page 4 Art Unit: 1663
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