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 .
The amendment and response filed on December 17, 2025 are received.
Claims 1-15 are pending in this application, claims 14-22 are withdrawn from further consideration (Also, see Restriction/Election below), claims 1-13 and 23-25 are being examined.
Restriction/Election:
Applicant’s election without traverse of, Group I, claims 1-13 and 23-25, in the reply filed on 12/17/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 14-22 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/17/2025.
Objection(s):
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, mark each recited step. For example, a) collecting biowaste from an organism, and so on.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 11 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The invention appears to employ a specific strain of an isolated bacterial strain VTT-E-193585 or a derivative.
It is not clear if the written description is sufficiently repeatable to avoid the need for a deposit.
Further it is unclear if the starting materials were readily available to the public at the time of invention.
It appears that a deposit was made in this application as filed as noted on abstract (preliminary amended). However, it is not clear if the deposit meets all of the criteria set forth in 37 CFR 1.801-1.809. Applicant or applicant's representative may provide assurance of compliance with the requirements of 35 U.S.C § 112, first paragraph, in the following manner.
SUGGESTION FOR DEPOSIT OF BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL
A declaration by applicant, assignee, or applicant's agent identifying a deposit of biological material and averring the following may be sufficient to overcome an objection and rejection based on a lack of availability of biological material.
1. Identifies declarant.
2. States that a deposit of the material has been made in a depository affording permanence of the deposit and ready accessibility thereto by the public if a patent is granted. The depository is to be identified by name and address.
3. States that the deposited material has been accorded a specific (recited) accession number.
4. States that all restriction on the availability to the public of the material so deposited will be irrevocably removed upon the granting of a patent.
5. States that the material has been deposited under conditions that access to the material will be available during the pendency of the patent application to one determined by the Commissioner to be entitled thereto under 37 CFR 1.14 and 35 U.S.C § 122.
6. States that the deposited material will be maintained with all the care necessary to keep it viable and uncontaminated for a period of at least five years after the most recent request for the furnishing of a sample of the deposited microorganism, and in any case, for a period of at least thirty (30) years after the date of deposit for the enforceable life of the patent, whichever period is longer.
7. That he/she declares further that all statements made therein of his/her own knowledge are true and that all statements made on information and belief are believed to be true, and further that these statements were made with knowledge that willful false statements and the like so made are punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, under section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code and that such willful false statements may jeopardize the validity of the instant patent application or any patent issuing thereon.
Alternatively, it may be averred that deposited material has been accepted for deposit under the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the purpose of Patent Procedure (e.g. see 961 OG 21, 1977) and that all restrictions on the availability to the public of the material so deposited will be irrevocably removed upon the granting of a patent.
Additionally, the deposit must be referred to in the body of the specification and be identified by deposit (accession) number, date of deposit, name and address of the depository and the complete taxonomic description.
Copy of deposit receipt is required.
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 11 and 25 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 11 the limitation “derivative thereof" is indefinite because the derivatives being claimed are not defined. There is no special definition for the term in Applicant’s specification.
Suggestion to obviate the rejection: As such the scope of the claim is not clearly set forth.
In claim 25 the limitation “derivative thereof" is indefinite because the derivatives being claimed are not defined. There is no special definition for the term in Applicant’s specification.
Suggestion to obviate the rejection: As such the scope of the claim is not clearly set forth.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's
disclosure.
Sillman et al. teach renewable energy source can be converted to microbial protein-rich microbial biomass (MP) via direct air capture of CO2 with the help of H2-oxidixing bacteria in a closed system, Sillman et al. teach MP production using inexpensive carbon substrates including waste which are available in large quantities (See p. 26 left-hand column 1st paragraph). H2-oxidixing bacteria are able to use H2 as energy source with the help of CO2 and O2, H2 and O2 produced by electrolysing water, and CO2 can be separated from the atmospheric air (See p. 26 left-hand column 2nd paragraph). Growing biomass and separation of bacterial biomass from the cultivation medium, and the collected carbon dioxide and the split oxygen and hydrogen gas to a bioreactor (See for example, p. 27 figure 1 and description and p. 26 right-hand column 1st paragraph and 2.1., and p. 28 paragraphs 2.2.3. and 2.2.4). Sillman et al. also teach microbe is a Knallgas bacteria, i.e., C. necator (a.k.a. Ralstonia eutropha) (See for example, p. 27 left-hand column paragraph 2.2.1.).
Liu et al. teach biowaste from an organism is rich in nutrient an can be used (human manure turned into biochar production and attractive solution to achieve greater soil fertility) (See for example, p. 1625 “4. Conclusions”).
However, the steps of collecting biowaste from an organism, the biowaste comprising a first amount of water and a first amount of solid-phase; receiving the collected biowaste in a first reactor; treating the collected biowaste in the first reactor using a first set of operating parameters for a first period of time to dissolve at least a part of solid-phase inorganic nutrients into the first amount of water to form a growth media; washing the formed growth media, wherein said washing includes sterilization, separation and cleaning steps; providing the formed growth media to a second reactor comprising an inoculum of microbial mass of collecting a second amount of water present in the atmosphere, and also the step of splitting the collected second amount of water into oxygen and hydrogen gas is not taught or disclosed by prior art.
In conclusion, prior art do not teach the steps of the method of claim 1, i.e., collecting biowaste from an organism, the biowaste comprising a first amount of water and a first amount of solid-phase; receiving the collected biowaste in a first reactor; treating the collected biowaste in the first reactor using a first set of operating parameters for a first period of time to dissolve at least a part of solid-phase inorganic nutrients into the first amount of water to form a growth media; washing the formed growth media, wherein said washing includes sterilization, separation and cleaning steps; providing the formed growth media to a second reactor comprising an inoculum of microbial mass; collecting carbon dioxide locally from an atmosphere; collecting a second amount of water present in the atmosphere and splitting the collected second amount of water into oxygen and hydrogen gas; providing the collected carbon dioxide and the split oxygen and hydrogen gas to the second reactor; growing a microbial mass in the second reactor under a second set of operating parameters; and harvesting the grown microbial mass from the second reactor to produce food for consumption by the organism. As such prior art do not anticipate or make obvious the claimed method.
Conclusion(s):
Claims 1-10, 12, 13 and 23-24 are allowable.
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/KADE ARIANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1651