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
Status of Claims
Note: The amendment of May 5th 2026 has been considered.
Claim 1 has been amended.
Claim 5 was cancelled.
Claims 1-9 are pending in the current application.
Claims 8 and 9 are withdrawn from consideration.
Claims 1-7 are examined in the current application.
Any rejections not recited below have been withdrawn.
Claim Objections
Claim 5 is objected to as being allowable except for its dependency from claim 1 (see discussion, below).
Claim 5 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35 of the U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-4, 6 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by NPL Havlik et al., “Dietary purines in vegetarian meat analogues” (from J. Sci Food Agric 2010; 90: 2352-2357).
Regarding claims 1 and 2: Havlik discloses vegetarian frankfurters (i.e., processed food) with 50mg/kg (i.e., 50µg/g) uric acid, and 22.4mg/100g (i.e., 224µg/g) of purines (see Havlik table 3 on page 2356), which reads on the claimed limitations.
Regarding claim 3: Havlik discloses vegetarian frankfurters (i.e., processed food) with 50mg/kg (i.e., 50µg/g) uric acid, and 22.4mg/100g (i.e., 224µg/g) of purines (see Havlik table 3 on page 2356), which renders a ratio of uric acid to purines of about 0.223 (50/224=0.223), which reads on the claimed limitations.
Regarding claim 4: Given the fact vegetarian frankfurters are food products covered by the classes 72-76 of Japan Standard Commodity Classification, Havlik meets the claimed limitations.
Regarding claims 6 and 7: In table 3 on page 2356, Havlik discloses the vegetarian frankfurters comprise xanthine and uric acid. Given the fact that uric acid is formed by the oxidation of xanthine with xanthine oxidase, and sine uric acid is not an additive, the vegetarian frankfurters in Havlik clearly comprises xanthine oxidase, and thus xanthine oxidase activity. If a composition’s catalytic activity is due to a biological macromolecule, that molecule is the enzyme itself.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
In view of the amendment filed on May 5th 2026, the rejection of claims 1-7 under 35 USC §102/103 over NPL Hildebrand, Indyk, Ozturk and Section 7, has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made under 35 USC §102 over NPL Havlik et al (see discussion, above).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is allowable, as neither Havlik, nor any other prior art reference disclose a beer tasting beverage comprising the claimed uric acid content.
Response to Arguments
In view of the amendment filed on May 5th 2026, the rejection of claims 1-7 under 35 USC §102/103 over NPL Hildebrand, Indyk, Ozturk and Section 7, has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made over 35 USC §102 in view of NPL Havlik et al (see discussion, above).
Conclusion
The following prior art is made of record and not relied upon, but is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
NPL “USDA and ODS-NIH Database for the Purine Content of Foods” (from https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-bhnrc/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/methods-and-application-of-food-composition-laboratory/mafcl-site-pages/purine-content-of-foods/) – delineates the uric acid and purine contents in alcoholic beverages.
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 ASSAF ZILBERING whose telephone number is (571)270-3029. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Erik Kashnikow can be reached at (571) 270-3475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ASSAF ZILBERING/Examiner, Art Unit 1792
/ERIK KASHNIKOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1792
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