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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-3, 5-7, 9, 10, 13-15 in the reply filed on 6/26/2026 is acknowledged.
Therefore, claims 4, 8, 11 and 12 are withdrawn from further consideration by the Examiner as being drawn to non-elected inventions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-3, 5-7, 9, 10, 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trail et al. (US 6,825,216).
Trail teaches the use of an alkaloid compound isolated from Piper nigrum (extract) comprising an alkenylene piperidine amide useful for preventing the contamination of plant (propagation) material with mycotoxins by treating the plant material in particular the seeds thereof, see entire reference, especially col. 3, lines 10-end, col. 7, lines 25-35, example 1 and the claims. Trail teaches that applying an effective amount of the alkenylene piperidine amide (which is an extract of Piper nigrum) inhibits biosynthesis of the mycotoxin.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to increase the yield of crop plants (plant propagation) since Trail makes it clear that the biosynthesis of mycotoxin is inhibited which can only increase the yield of crop plants since the mycotoxin are inhibited which increases growth and yield since the mycotoxin cannot affect the yield or the growth since they have been inhibited.
The fruit of the piper nigrum is the peppercorn (fruit) which inherently has the alkenylene piperidine amide (piper nigrum extract) in it. Oleoresin is simply a concentrated version of the piper nigrum extract which is obvious for storing, for example.
It also would have been obvious to grow the crop plant until maturity of its harvestable plant material since one would want a mature plant. To grow the plant in an open field is also obvious to allow the plant to grow as much as it wants.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL V MELLER whose telephone number is (571)272-0967. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 am-5:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anand Desai can be reached at 571-272-0947. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MICHAEL V. MELLER
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1655
/MICHAEL V MELLER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1655
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