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 .
Continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) was filed after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.114 has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office Action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant’s submission filed on 04/07/2026 has been entered.
Claim status
The examiner acknowledged the amendment made to the claims on 03/19/2026.
Claims 6, 9-12 and 16-17 are pending in the application. Claims 6, 9-12 and 16-17 are currently amended. Claims 2, 4-5, 7-8 and 13 remain cancelled. Claims 1, 3, 14-15 and 18-22 are newly cancelled.. Claims 6, 9-12 and 16-17 are hereby examined on the merits.
Examiner Note
Any objections and/or rejections that are made in the previous actions and are not repeated below, are hereby withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 6, 9-12 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Constantine US Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0162483 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Constantine) in view of Yamamoto WO 2018/181382 A1 (English translation relied upon for reference, hereinafter referred to as Yamamoto).
Regarding claims 6, 9 and 12, Constantine teaches an oral product (e.g., a sport beverage, 0002), the sport beverage comprising, inter alia, 1-10% a protein such as soy protein and pea protein (0027-0028), and 0.01-25% sweetener such as sucralose (0052; 0057; 0061). Soy protein or pea protein as disclosed by Constantine reads on the off-flavor substance (page 6, line 26-28 of the instant specification acknowledges that soy protein and pea protein are among those vegetable proteins that cause off-flavor).
Constantine is silent regarding adding a composition comprising γ-Glu-Val-Gly and serine to the sport beverage.
Yamamoto teaches a taste improving composition, the taste improving composition comprising a gamma-glutamyl peptide such as γ-Glu-Val-Gly, and an amino acid such as serine, where the weight ratio of serine/ γ-Glu-Val-Gly is 0.005-500, for example, 0.005 or more, 0.01 or more, 0.03 or more, 0.05 or more, 0.1 or more, 0.15 or more, 0.2 or more, 0.3 or more, 0.5 or more, 0.7 or more, 1 or more, 1.5 or more, 2 or more, 3 or more, or 5 or more, or may be 500 or less, 300 or less, 100 or less, 70 or less, 50 or less, 30 or less, 20 or less, 15 or less, 10 or less, 5 or less, 3 or less, 2 or less, 1.5 or less, 1 or less, 0.5 or less, 0.3 or less, or 0.1 or less, or any compatible combination thereof (0011; 0053). Yamamoto teaches that the composition can be added to an oral food such as a sport beverage (e.g., sport drink) that comprises sucralose so as impart sucrose-like taste to the oral food (0001; 0064-0065; 0017). Yamamoto teaches that the concentration of γ-Glu-Val-Gly in the oral food is 0.005-100 ppm (0071), and the concentration of serine in the oral food is 0.1-2000 ppm (0072).
Both Constantine and Yamamoto are directed to sport beverages that comprise sucralose. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Constantine by adding the taste improving composition that comprises γ-Glu-Val-Gly and serine as disclosed by Yamamoto to the sport beverage that comprises sucralose so as to impart sucrose-like taste. One of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have had a reasonable expectation of success for doing so because Yamamoto has established that incorporating a composition comprising γ-Glu-Val-Gly and serine in a sport beverage comprising sucralose could impart a sucrose-like taste to the sport beverage.
The ratio of serine/ γ-Glu-Val-Gly as disclosed by Yamamoto encompasses or overlaps with the ranges as recited in claims 9 and 12. In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. (MPEP 2144.05 I).
The limitation about suppressing an off-flavor that is an odor derived from a vegetable protein as recited in claim 6, and the limitation about producing an oral product with a suppressed off-flavor that is an odor derived from a vegetable protein as recited in claim 12 recite the purposes of the method claims, and the recited purposes do not result in a manipulative difference between the claims and prior art because the actual step and the composition recited in Constantine in view of Yamamoto and the instant claims are the same (e.g. Constantine in view of Yamamoto teaches adding a composition to an oral product that comprises an off-flavor substance that is soy or pea protein, in which the composition comprises γ-Glu-Val-Gly and serine the ratio of which overlaps with the range as recited in claim 12) and will necessarily provide the purposes in instant claims.
Regarding claims 10-11 and 16-17, Yamamoto as recited above teaches that the concentration of γ-Glu-Val-Gly in the oral food is 0.005-100 ppm (0071), and the concentration of serine in the oral food is 0.1-2000 ppm (0072); further, Constantine teaches that the sport milk is contains 1-10% soy protein or pea protein. As such, prior art teaches an amount of γ-Glu-Val-Gly or serine by weight of the off-flavor substance that reasonably overlaps with the ranges as recited in claims 10-11 and 16-17 (calc.: when the sport beverage contains 1% soy protein, 100 ppm γ-Glu-Val-Gly and 200 ppm serine, the amount of γ-Glu-Val-Gly by weight of the soy protein is 100 ppm / 1% which is about 100 ppm, and the amount of serine by weight of the soy protein is 200 ppm B/ 1% which is about 200 ppm). Note that claims 10 and 16 recite a very broad range in which the upper bound 1% is 50,000 times of the lower bound 0.2 ppm, and claims 11 and recite a very broad range in which the upper bound 15% 5,000 time of the lower bound 30 ppm. Also note that instant disclosure is silent regarding how much vegetable protein is present in an oral product.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 03/19/2026 with respect to pending claims have been considered but are moot over the new ground of rejection set forth in the instant office action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHANGQING LI whose telephone number is (571)272-2334. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:00.
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/CHANGQING LI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1791
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