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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/08/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-6, 8, 11-12, 19-23, 25, 30-31, and 34-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Skirvin et al. (In Vitro Germination and Growth of Rubus Seeds and Embryos, HortScience 20(6): 1047-1049, 1985), hereinafter Skirvin.
In re. claim 1, Skirvin teaches a method of reducing germination time of Rubus seeds, the method comprising: cutting each of one or more Rubus seeds into two portions to produce Rubus seed portions (halved seed) (step 3, pg. 1047); and(b) cultivating the Rubus seed portions on a germination medium (modified Lepoivre) (last two paragraphs of pg. 1047) in a humid environment (capped food jars) to produce one or more seedlings that comprise a radicle (pg. 1048, 2nd para), wherein the germination medium comprises a soilless potting mix (modified Lepoivre) (last two paragraphs of pg. 1047) (no attempt to germinate seeds in soil) (3rd to last para. of pg. 1048), thereby reducing the time to germination of the Rubus seeds (1 to 2 week time savings) (pg. 1049, 3rd para.).
In re. claim 2, Skirvin teaches a method of reducing time from seed to production of Rubus seedlings having roots and plumules, the method comprising:(a) cutting each of one or more Rubus seeds into two portions to produce Rubus seed portions (halved seed) (step 3, pg. 1047);(b) cultivating the Rubus seed portions on a germination medium (modified Lepoivre) (last two paragraphs of pg. 1047) in a humid environment (capped food jars) to produce one or more seedlings that comprise a radicle (pg. 1048, 2nd para), wherein the germination medium comprises a soilless potting mix (modified Lepoivre) (last two paragraphs of pg. 1047) (no attempt to germinate seeds in soil) (3rd to last para. of pg. 1048); and(c) cultivating the one or more Rubus seedlings to produce one or more Rubus seedlings having roots and a plumule (number of seeds that developed) (table 2).
In re. claim 4, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein cultivating of (b) is for about 24 hours to about 12 days (8 to 12 days) (pg. 1049, 3rd para.).
In re. claim 5, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the cultivating of is for about 48 hours to about three weeks (percentage recorded surviving after 3 weeks) (pg. 1048, 3rd para.).
In re. claim 6, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the germination time is reduced to about 24 hours to about 12 days (8 to 12 days) as compared to about 12 weeks to about 16 weeks for a control (as the control fails to further define the method).
In re. claim 8, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the time from seed to production of plants having roots and a plumule is reduced by about 3 days to about 35 days (percentage recorded surviving after 3 weeks) (pg. 1048, 3rd para.) as compared to about 105 days to about 133 days for a control (as the control fails to further define the method).
In re. claim 11, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the cultivating of (b) comprises a temperature in a range from about 21°C to about 28°C (20-22°C) (pg. 1047, last para.).
In re. claim 12, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the cultivating of (b) comprises a day length of about 14 hours to about 18 hours (16-hr days) (pg. 1047, last para.).
In re. claim 19, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more Rubus seeds are mature seeds harvested from fully ripe fruit from Rubus plants (freshly harvested) (abstract).
In re. claim 20, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more Rubus seeds that are desiccated (In our treatments, seeds were extracted from fresh fruit, disinfested , and then placed directly onto tissue culture medium) (i.e. no desiccation) (pg. 1049, 1st para).
In re. claim 21, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising surface sterilizing the one or more Rubus seeds prior to cutting (paragraph before step 1) (pg. 1047).
In re. claim 22, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 21, wherein the surface sterilizing comprises contacting the one or more Rubus seeds with a disinfecting solution (paragraph before step 1) (pg. 1047).
In re. claim 23, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 22, wherein the disinfecting solution is a bleach solution (NaCOl is the active ingredient in bleach).
In re. claim 25, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 23, wherein the surface sterilizing comprises maintaining the one or more Rubus seeds in the bleach solution for about 5 minutes to about 30 minutes (10 minutes) (paragraph before step 1) (pg. 1047).
In re. claim 30, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the method does not comprise stratification (without cool-moist stratification) (pg. 1049, 1st para.).
In re. claim 31, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the method does not comprise sterile tissue culture (no recitation of the tissue culture being sterile in the disclosure of Skirvin).
In re. claim 34, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 31, wherein the one or more Rubus seeds are mature seeds harvested from fully ripe fruit from Rubus plants and the one or more Rubus seeds are not desiccated (In our treatments, seeds were extracted from fresh fruit, disinfested , and then placed directly onto tissue culture medium) (i.e. no desiccation) (pg. 1049, 1st para).
In re. claim 35, Skirvin teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the one or more Rubus seedlings further comprise two cotyledons (cotyledons in vitro) (pg. 1048, 2nd para.).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which 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, 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.
Claims 27-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Skirvin as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sakakibara et al. (US 2019/0223401).
In re. claim 27, Skirvin fails to disclose exposing the one or more Rubus seedlings to conditions of decreasing humidity, thereby producing one or more Rubus seedlings or plants having roots and a plumule that are hardened.
Sakakibara teaches disclose exposing the one or more Rubus seedlings (para [00129]) to conditions of decreasing humidity (para [0242]), thereby producing one or more Rubus seedlings or plants having roots and a plumule that are hardened (as is understood by acclimating to environment).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified Skirvin to incorporate the teachings of Sakakibara to expose the one or more Rubus seedlings to conditions of decreasing humidity, for the purpose of acclimatizing the seedlings to the environment.
In re. claim 28, Skirvin as modified by Sakakibara (see Sakakibara) teach the method of claim 27, wherein the conditions of decreasing humidity are carried out for about 7 days to about 5 weeks (one week ) to produce a hardened plant (para [0242]).
Skirvin as modified by Sakakibara fail to disclose a relative humidity of about 80% or lower.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified Skirvin as modified by Sakakibara to have the conditions of decreasing humidity at a relative humidity of about 80% or lower, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. MPEP 2144.05(II) Doing so allows the plant to be acclimated in an environment below 80% humidity.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims above have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/C.D.H./
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3647
/Christopher D Hutchens/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3647
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