DETAILED ACTION
The present Office Action is responsive to the Amendment received on June 24, 2026.
Preliminary Remark
Claims 18-20 are canceled.
Specification
The objection made to the disclosure for the informality noted in the Office Action mailed on March 24, 2026 is maintained for the reasons of record.
Applicants contend that the objection is improper as neither CFR nor other “applicable rules” prohibit their inclusion in the specification (page 1, Response):
This argument has been carefully considered and has been consulted with the Supervisory staff. The determination was made that the objection is valid and the referred to SEQ ID Numbers be removed as detailed in the below, “Response” section.
The Objection:
Under ST.26 rules, in a sequencing listing, SEQ ID Numbers directed to nucleotides that are less than 10 nucleotides in length are skipped and not disclosed therein. Therefore, these sequences should not be referred to by their SEQ ID numbers in the specification. SEQ ID NOs: 1-20 contain nucleotide sequences having less than 10 bases in length, but are referenced in the specification. (see section [0133] for example).
All such references should be removed from the specification.
Response:
While the CFR nor the rules explicitly state that the SEQ ID Numbers that relate to specific nucleotides sequences of less than 10 nucleotides are not permitted in the specification, the rationale for their removal is valid. This is because the application in its entirety results in an inconsistent disclosure. Expounding, the sequence listing, refers to SEQ ID Numbers 1-20 but lists that they contain no sequences, whereas the specification refers to the same SEQ ID numbers with specific nucleotide sequences. This results in a discrepancy of the application disclosure as a whole. While this inconsistency could also lead to the SEQ ID Numbers recited in the claim, the Office has examined the application for the purpose of compact prosecution. However, for the same reason, the Office suggests removing the SEQ ID Numbers and specifically reciting the nucleotide sequences instead.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
The objection of claim 17 for reasons discussed above is also maintained. All references to SEQ ID numbers being less than 10 ntds in length (thus skipped in the sequence listing) should be removed from the claim (i.e., all of the claims). Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The rejection of claims 13-15 and 17under 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, made in the Office Action mailed on March 24, 2026 is withdrawn in view of the Amendment received on June 24, 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The rejection of claims 1, 6, 8, and 10-13 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Witters et al. (WO 2022/015600 A2, published January 2022, priority July 2020), made in the Office Action mailed on March 24, 2026 is withdrawn in view of the Amendment received on June 24, 2026, under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The rejection of claims 2-5, 7, and 14-16 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Witters et al. (WO 2022/015600 A2, published January 2022, priority July 2020) in view of Boles et al. (U.S. Patent No. 6,300,070 B1, published October 9, 2001) as evidenced by New England BioLabs Product Catalogue (herein “NEB”, available on-line: www.neb.com), made in the Office Action mailed on March 24, 2026 is withdrawn in view of the Amendment received on June 24, 2026, under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C).
The rejection of claim 9 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Witters et al. (WO 2022/015600 A2, published January 2022, priority July 2020) in view of Cheng et al. (Adv. Sci., July 2021, vol. 8, pages 1-14) made in the Office Action mailed on March 24, 2026 is withdrawn in view of the Amendment received on June 24, 2026, under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C).
Conclusion
The specification is objected to.
Claim 17 is objected to.
Claims 1-16 and 21 are allowable.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Young J. Kim whose telephone number is (571) 272-0785. The Examiner can best be reached from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m (M-F). The Examiner can also be reached via e-mail to Young.Kim@uspto.gov. However, the office cannot guarantee security through the e-mail system nor should official papers be transmitted through this route.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor, Gary Benzion, can be reached at (571) 272-0782.
Papers related to this application may be submitted to Art Unit 1681 by facsimile transmission. The faxing of such papers must conform with the notice published in the Official Gazette, 1156 OG 61 (November 16, 1993) and 1157 OG 94 (December 28, 1993) (see 37 CFR 1.6(d)). NOTE: If applicant does submit a paper by FAX, the original copy should be retained by applicant or applicant’s representative. NO DUPLICATE COPIES SHOULD BE SUBMITTED, so as to avoid the processing of duplicate papers in the Office. All official documents must be sent to the Official Tech Center Fax number: (571) 273-8300. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application should be directed to the Group receptionist whose telephone number is (571) 272-1600.
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.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YOUNG J KIM/Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1637 February 2, 2018
/YJK/
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