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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This application is a 371 PCT/KR2021/006566.
The amendment filed on February 26, 2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-11 are pending.
Claims 1-11 are under examination.
Response to Amendments/Arguments
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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.
Withdrawn Rejections
Applicant’s arguments, see page 4 of the Remarks, filed February 26, 2026, with respect to claim 1 and claims 2-5 depending therefrom have been fully considered and are persuasive. Clam 1 has been amended to delete the indefinite limitation. Therefore, the rejections of claim 1 and claims 2-5 depending therefrom under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 4 of the Remarks, filed February 26, 2026, with respect to claim 2 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Clam 2 has been amended to delete the indefinite limitation. Therefore, the rejection of claim 2 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 4 of the Remarks, filed February 26, 2026, with respect to claim 3 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Clam 3 has been amended to delete the indefinite limitation. Therefore, the rejection of claim 3 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 4 of the Remarks, filed February 26, 2026, with respect to claims 3-4 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Clams 3-4 have been amended to delete the indefinite limitation. Therefore, the rejection of claims 3-4 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) has been withdrawn.
New Rejections
Claims 1, 3, and 9-10 and claims 2, 4-8, and 11 depending therefrom 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 and 9 recite the limitations “-73 to -61 region of a promoter sequence of SEQ ID NO:1”, “-51 to -38 region of a promoter sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1”. Claims 3 and 10 recite the limitation “SEQ ID NO: 2 which optionally has ten or fewer substitution(s) at -90 to -30 region”. The metes and bounds of the limitations in the context of the claims are not clear. The sequence listing of SEQ ID NO:1 and 2 do not indicate negative nucleic acid positions. Therefore, it is unclear which nucleic acids correspond to positions“-73 to -61”, “-51 to -38”, and “-90 to -30”. Clarification is requested.
Claims 1 and 9 and claims 2-8 and 10-11 depending therefrom 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 and 9 recite the limitations “ggggttacgatac to tgtggtatgatgg” and “gtgactgctatcac to acagctgctactgt”. A nucleic acid sequence requires compliance with the sequence rules when the sequence comprises at least 10 nucleic acids. Therefore, Applicant is required to comply with the sequence rules by inserting the sequence identifiers for all sequences recited within the claims. See MPEP 2422.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 4-5 of the Remarks, filed February 26, 2026, with respect to claims 1-5 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Clams 1-5 have been amended to recite a mutant promoter of SEQ ID NO:1, which is not taught or suggested by Park (US 9,109,242 – form PTO-892 or WO 2008/033001 - form PTO-1449). Therefore, the rejection of claims 1-5 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Park has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 4-5 of the Remarks, filed February 26, 2026, with respect to claims 1-5 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Clams 1-5 have been amended to recite a mutant promoter of SEQ ID NO:1, which is not taught or suggested by Peters-Wendisch (Pyruvate carboxylase is a major bottleneck for glutamate and lysine production by Corynebacterium glutamicum. J Mol Microbiol Biotechnol. 2001 Apr;3(2):295-300 - form PTO-1449). Therefore, the rejection of claims 1-5 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Peters-Wendisch has been withdrawn.
Double Patenting
Applicant’s arguments, see page 5 of the Remarks, filed February 26, 2026, with respect to claims 1-5 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Clams 1-5 have been amended to recite a mutant promoter of SEQ ID NO:1, which is not recited in the claims of US Patent 9,109,242 nor disclosed in Park (WO 2008/033001 - form PTO-1449). Therefore, the nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-22 of US Patent 9,109,242 (reference patent) in view of Park (WO 2008/033001 - form PTO-1449) has been withdrawn.
Conclusion
Claims 1-11 are pending.
Claims 1-11 are rejected.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YONG D PAK whose telephone number is (571)272-0935. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 5:30 am - 3:30 pm.
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/YONG D PAK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1652