Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined pursuant to the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
Applicants filed claims 1 – 16 with the instant application on 31 May 2024. In a Preliminary Amendment filed 16 August 2024, Applicants amended claims 10 – 13 and canceled claim 14. Upon finalization and entry of the Restriction Requirement (see below), claims 1 – 4 will be available for substantive consideration.
Response to Restriction/Election
The Examiner acknowledges Applicants’ election, without traverse, of the invention of Group I, claims 1 - 4, in the Response filed on 22 May 2026.
Claims 5 – 13, 15, and 16 are hereby withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Examiner has considered the information disclosure statement (IDS) filed 6 February 2026, which is now of record in the file. However, for those documents submitted in a language other than English, without an accompanying English-language translation, the Examiner will be able to consider only the information accessible on their face, such as Figures, chemical formulas, and the like, which, in the present case, is very limited. See MPEP § 609.05(b).
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Rejections Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. § 103 that forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office Action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the Examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicants are advised of the obligation pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the Examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 – 4 are rejected pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 103, as being obvious over Alemán, E., et al., Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 23(1): 95 – 101 (2014) (“Alemán (2014)”), in view of US 10,240,143 to Moh, S.-H., et al., published 26 March 2019 (“Moh ‘143”), Bojórquez-Quintal, J., et al., African Journal of Biotechnology 10(82): 19056 - 19065 (2011) (“Bojórquez-Quintal (2011)”).
The Invention As Claimed
Applicants claim a method for manufacturing a coffea arabica plant cell, or adventitious root culture, or an extract thereof, having an increased content of bioactive substances, comprising the steps of isolating leaf or stem tissue of a coffee plant and culturing a plant cell or adventitious root, and radio-frequency treating the plant cell or adventitious root, wherein the step of isolating leaf or stem tissue comprises obtaining a plant cell culture by isolating leaf or stem tissue of the coffee plant and culturing the isolated tissue in a medium containing sucrose, myo-inositol, thiamine Hc1, nicotinic acid, and pyridoxine HCl, or obtaining an adventitious root culture by isolating the leaf or stem tissue of the coffee plant and culturing the isolated tissue in a medium containing indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), wherein the radio-frequency treatment comprises radio-frequency treatment 3 to 5 times at 30 KHz to 30 MHz at intervals of 10 to 30 minutes, and wherein the bioactive substances are carotenoid, flavonoid, and phenol.
The Teachings of the Cited Art
Alemán (2014) discloses the in vitro exposure of coffee seedlings to an electromagnetic field during establishment, multiplication, and acclimatization phases, wherein, four months after treatment was applied, shoot lengths, root lengths, the pair of leaves numbers, and CAT activity increased in treated plants when compared to control groups (see Abstract), wherein electromagnetic fields (EMF’s) are classified as non-ionizing radiation (see p. 95, 1st col., 1st para.), wherein the aim of the disclosed study was to determine the possible relationship between exposure to EMF’s on growth, and superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities in coffee seedlings at different stages of in vitro growth and subsequent development of these seedlings (see p. 96, 1st col., 1st para.), wherein one week after the establishment and multiplication phases began the electromagnetic treatment was performed (see p. 96, col. 1, 5th para.), wherein growth parameters such as shoot lengths, root lengths, and leaf pair numbers of Coffea arabica plants obtained by in vitro propagation exposed to EMF were obtained and compared to control groups (see p. 97, 1st col., 2nd para.; see also, Table 10), wherein statistical analysis showed that the effects of EMF exposure on shoot lengths, root lengths, and leaf pair numbers were significant at P=0.05, with average shoot lengths and average root lengths increasing in plants treated with EMF when compared to the control (see p. 97, 1st col., 3rd para.), wherein, based on recent research on different plants, EMF affects plant growth positively, with regeneration rate, plant fresh and dry weight, leaf number, length, shoot
number, and rooting rate showing increases when compared to controls (see p. 97, 1st col., 7th para.; see also, Fig. 1). The reference does not disclose exposure of coffee tissues to radiofrequency radiation at from 30 KHz to 30 MHz, or culturing cells or roots in a medium comprising sucrose, myo-inositol, thiamine HCl, nicotinic acid, and pyridoxine HCl, or methods that increased the content of bioactive substances, such as carotenoids, flavonoids, or phenols. The disclosures of Moh ‘143 and Bojórquez-Quintal (2011) remedy those deficiencies.
Moh ‘143 discloses a radiofrequency device for increasing the amounts of bioactive substances in a plant cell, and a plant cell culture method for increasing the amount of useful intracellular secondary metabolites by using the radiofrequency device, making it possible to increase specific secondary metabolites in a cell and, thus, can be used for development into various medicines, agricultural pesticides, spices, pigments, food additives, and cosmetics containing bioactive substances (see Abstract), wherein the method comprises the steps of inoculating the plant cell into a medium and culturing the plant cell, and processing the cultured cell with a radiofrequency to increasing amounts of a bioactive substances in the plant cells (see Col. 2, ll. 30 – 34), wherein the radiofrequency used in the process is in the range of 100 KHz to 15 MHz (see Col. 2, ll. 35 – 36), wherein the radiofrequency is applied 3 times every 2 to 10 minutes per day repeatedly for 5 to 15 days (see Col. 2, ll. 47 – 49), wherein the bioactive substances are alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenenoids, and/or glycosides (see Col. 2, ll. 50 – 53), and wherein, in an exemplified embodiment, a radiofrequency of 240 KHz or 270 KHz was applied to the adventitious root 3 times every 5 minutes for a day, and repeated for a week to two weeks (see Col. 4, ll. 9 – 16, EXAMPLE 4).
Bojórquez-Quintal (2011) discloses that, unlike propagation by seeding, plant tissue culture provides the possibility of applying different growing conditions, such as different types of media, and using phytoregulators, to induce a response in order to shorten zygotic embryo germination times. Therefore, the effects of culture media with incubation, either at photoperiod or darkness, and with certain plant growth regulators, such as gibberellic acid (GA), abscisic acid (ABA), and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), were evaluated (see Abstract), wherein two different culture media were used: MS medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962), and B5 medium (Gamborg et al., 1968), prepared with both major and minor components at ¼ strength, ½ strength, and 1/1 strength, supplemented with vitamins (100 mg/L myo-inositol, 10 mg/L thiamine, 25 mg/L cysteine, and 3% sucrose for MS, and 100 mg/L myo-inositol, 100 mg/L thiamine, 10 mg/L nicotinic acid, and 10 mg/L pyridoxine, for B5 (see p. 19058, 1st col., 3rd para.), wherein plant growth regulators, such as indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), were added to the culture media (see p. 19058, paras. 4 – 5), and wherein a reduced time (11th day) for reaching 100% germination was achieved when using a B5 medium, compared to only 18% germination when using B5 with another plant genus (see 19059, 1st col.).
Application of the Cited Art to the Claims
It would have been prima facie obvious before the filing date of the claimed invention to
expose coffee seedlings in vitro to an electromagnetic field during establishment, multiplication, and acclimatization phases, wherein four months after treatment was applied, shoot lengths, root lengths, the pair of leaves numbers, and CAT activity increased in treated plants when compared to control groups, wherein one week after the establishment and multiplication phases began the electromagnetic treatment was performed, wherein growth parameters such as shoot lengths, root lengths, and leaf pair numbers of the Coffea arabica plants obtained by in vitro propagation exposed to EMF were obtained and statistical analysis showed that the effects of EMF exposure on shoot lengths, root lengths, and leaf pair numbers were significant at P=0.05, with average shoot lengths and average root lengths increasing in plants treated with EMF when compared to the control, and wherein, based on research on different plants, EMF affects plant growth positively, with regeneration rate, plant fresh and dry weight, leaf number, length, shoot
number, and rooting rate showing increases when compared to controls, in accord with the teachings of Alemán (2014), wherein plant cell cultures were exposed to electromagnetic energy in the form of radiofrequencies in order to increase the amounts of bioactive substances in a plant cell, wherein the process comprises the steps of inoculating a plant cell into a culture medium and culturing the plant cell, and exposing the cultured cell to a radiofrequency, wherein the radiofrequency used in the process is in the range of 100 KHz to 15 MHz, wherein the radiofrequency is applied 3 times every 2 to 10 minutes per day repeatedly for 5 to 15 days, wherein the bioactive substances are alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenenoids, and/or glycosides, and wherein, in an exemplified embodiment, a radiofrequency of 240 KHz or 270 KHz was applied to an adventitious root 3 times every 5 minutes for a day, and repeated for a week to two weeks, as taught by Moh ‘143, and wherein the culture medium used for culturing the seeds during exposure to radiofrequency radiation comprised MS medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962), and/or B5 medium (Gamborg et al., 1968), prepared with both major and minor components at ¼ strength, ½ strength, and 1/1 strength, supplemented with vitamins (100 mg/L myo-inositol, 10 mg/L thiamine, 25 mg/L cysteine, and 3% sucrose for MS; and 100 mg/L myo-inositol, 100 mg/L thiamine, 10 mg/L nicotinic acid, and 10 mg/L pyridoxine, for B5, and wherein a plant growth regulators, such as indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), was added to the culture media, as taught by Bojórquez-Quintal (2011). One of skill in the art would be motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success in so doing, by the teachings of Moh ‘143 to the effect that exposure of seed cultures to specific radiofrequency radiation results in the increased production of secondary metabolites, such as alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenenoids, and/or glycosides, and by the teachings of Bojórquez-Quintal (2011) that MS and B5 culture media leading to a reduced time to 100% germination.
In light of the forgoing discussion, the Examiner concludes that the subject matter defined by claims 1 – 4 would have been obvious within the meaning of 35 USC § 103.
NO CLAIM IS ALLOWED.
CONCLUSION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or any other communications from the examiner should be directed to Daniel F. Coughlin whose telephone number is (571)270-3748. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:30 am - 5:30 pm.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, David J Blanchard, can be reached on (571)272-0827. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)273-8300.
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/DANIEL F COUGHLIN/
Examiner, Art Unit 1619
/DAVID J BLANCHARD/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1619
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