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 in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 9/22/26 has been entered.
Claims 1, 3-12, and 14-22 are pending.
Claim 1 has been amended by Applicant.
Claims 1, 3-12, and 14-22 are currently under consideration.
This Office Action contains a New Rejection.
Objections and Rejections Withdrawn
All previous objections and rejections are withdrawn.
New Rejection
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 1, 3-11, 21, and 22 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 1, 3-11, 21, and 22 are rejected because claim 1 recites a protein “…having a substitution of a hydrophobic amino acid residue with a charged amino acid….wherein the protein is a bacterial adhesion comprising an E. coli…binding domain or structural homolog thereof comprising SEQ ID NO: 3-26, 28, 29, 31, or 32 and the substitution is at L34, V35, and/or Y64 of SEQ ID NO: 4, or at a corresponding homologous residue thereof of SEQ ID NO: 5,-26, 28, 29, 31, or 32; or at L32, V33 and/or at F63 of SEQ ID NO: 3.” The specification discloses corresponding homologous residues of recited sequences (Figure 14, in particular). However, the metes-and-bounds of the claims are unclear because it is unclear what is meant by a protein (i) having a domain “comprising” a recited SEQ ID NO (such as SEQ ID NO: 4 - which does not have a substitution at L34, V35, and/or Y64) wherein the protein (ii) has a substitution at a recited residue of the SEQ ID NO (such as L34, V35, and/or Y64 of SEQ ID NO: 4). For example, it is unclear what is meant by a domain comprising (i) SEQ ID NO:4 (which comprises L34, V35, and Y64); and (ii) a charged amino acid at L34, V35, and/or Y64 of SEQ ID NO: 4.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12 and 14-20 are allowed.
Conclusion
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/SEAN E AEDER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1642
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