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 Application
Receipt is acknowledged of the amendment and response filed on 5/9/2026. Claims 8-20 are pending in the application. Claims 1-7 were canceled by the applicant in response to a restriction requirement.
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.
Claim 8, 17 and dependent claims 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 8 and 17 recite “for weight loss and lipid lowering” without a method step. The limitation is considered an inherent property of the claimed composition and has not been accorded weight in examining for patentability.
The claims are interpreted to recite botanical names. However the first letter of the genus name is not capitalized. Correction is needed. The scope of the extraction step for Rosa rugosa and Crataegus pinnatifida is undeterminable because the plant part from these botanicals that is extracted is unspecified. One of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Appropriate correction is required. Further, claim 8 recites “the crataegus pinnatifida flavone” without antecedent basis. Furthermore, it is unclear in what forms whether dry or wet, powder, liquid extract the claimed components of the composition are combined to obtain tea. The scope of the claimed weight ratio is therefore unclear.
The above indefiniteness issues also appear in dependent claims. Appropriate correction is required to enable a meaningful comparison with the prior art.
General Comments
The recited components are plant-derived materials and extracts that are known to individually possess functional properties and potential utility in food, beverage, nutraceutical, or herbal compositions.
However, because the scope of the claimed subject matter is unclear, a meaningful comparison of the claimed invention with prior art can be made only after the identified indefiniteness under 35 USC 112(b) is resolved.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Subbalakshmi Prakash whose telephone number is (571)270-3685. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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, Emily Le can be reached at (571) 272-0903. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SUBBALAKSHMI PRAKASH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1793
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