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 .
Claims 7 and 9-12 are currently pending in this Application.
Priority
CONTINUING DATA
This application is a 371 of PCT/KR2022/015988 10/20/2022
FOREIGN APPLICATIONS
KOREA, REPUBLIC OF KR10-2021-0144988 10/27/2021
KOREA, REPUBLIC OF KR10-2022-0134912 10/19/20221
Information Disclosure Statement
Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statements, filed on April 24, 2024, and July 27, 2025, have been considered. Please refer to Applicant’s copies of the 1449 submitted herewith.
Election/Restrictions
Applicants’ election, without traverse, claims 7 and 8, drawn to methods of using products comprising an imidazopyridine scaffold-bearing compound as an active ingredient and the species
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in the reply filed on September 18, 2026, is acknowledged. Therefore, the restriction requirement is considered proper and is maintained.
The examiner agrees that the claims of the invention of Group II, are claims 7 and 8 (and not claims 27 and 31, as stated in the restriction requirement mailed on July 21, 2026.)
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The products depicted on pages 5, 11 and 22, have several Formulae that do not fulfil the valance requirement of the “N” linking the two bicyclic groups in the Formula. It is unclear what substituent is attached to the “N” linking the two bicyclic groups. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The primary purpose of this requirement of definiteness of claim language is to ensure that the scope of the claims is clear, so the public is informed of the boundaries of what constitutes infringement of the patent. A secondary purpose is to provide a clear measure of what applicants’ regard as the invention so that it can be determined whether the claimed invention meets all the criteria for patentability and whether the specification meets the criteria of 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph with respect to the claimed invention.", (see MPEP § 2173).
Claims 7 and 9-12 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 7 is directed to methods of using products comprising an imidazopyridine scaffold-bearing compound of Formula
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. The “N” linking the two bicyclic group in the Formula is makes the claim indefinite. The valance requirement of the “N” is not met. It is unclear what substituent is attached to the “N” linking the two bicyclic groups. The specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The metes and bounds of substituents that are attached to "N" are not defined, and consequently the scope of the products encompassed by the present claims is unclear.
Claims 9-12, which are dependent upon present claim 7, do not clarify the indefinite subject matter, and are similarly rejected.
Appropriate correction is required
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 9-12 would be allowable once the 112 rejections and objections to the specification outlined above have been overcome. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The methods of using the products,
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, of the instant claims are novel and non-obvious over the prior art. The closest prior art is US Patent No. 10,501,459 B3, which teach products of Formula
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and their method of use. None of the published products and their methods of use anticipated, or rendered obvious, the process as described in this application.
Telephone Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAMAL A SAEED whose telephone number is (571) 272-0705.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicants are encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Adam C Milligan can be reached at (571)270-7674. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Kamal A Saeed/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1626
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