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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS received on December 5, 2025 is proper and is being considered by the Examiner. The Office notes that citations of Office Actions (for example, OA 17/684,289 mailed on June 30, 2023) contain a lengthy IDS attachment that spans over thousands of references. While the Office Action has been considered, the appended IDS nor the citations made therein have been considered as they fail to comply with the requirements, which requires a legible copy of such references, as well as the citation of said references in an IDS of the instant application.
Drawings
The drawings received on July 18, 2024 are acceptable.
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 95 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fu et al. (US 2016/0257993 A1, published September 2016).
With regard to claim 95, Fu et al. teach a first oligonucleotide comprising: a) a first universal sequence; b) a first molecular label; and c) a first target-binging region capable of hybridizing to the nucleic acid target (see Fig. 4, below):
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Fu et al. expressly teach that the first oligonucleotide is attached to a solid support (“the first oligonucleotide … is attached to a solid support”, section [0005]).
Therefore, Fu et al. anticipate the invention as claimed.
Conclusion
Claims 1-18 and 22 are allowable. Claim 95 is rejected.
Claims 1-18 and 22 are free of prior art.
While the prior art teaches the use of oligonucleotides which comprise a universal priming site, a molecular label, and a target-specific site for generating an amplifiable product which is tagged with identifiable index(-cies), there is no teaching in the prior art or motivation to produce the extension product produced from the extension of the oligonucleotides (of Fu et al.) and combine them with a second oligonucleotide comprising a second universal sequence, a cleavage domain, and a blocking group, their hybridization, the removal of the blocking group via the cleavage domain, and extension of said second oligonucleotide.
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Young J. Kim whose telephone number is (571) 272-0785. The Examiner can best be reached from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m (M-F). The Examiner can also be reached via e-mail to Young.Kim@uspto.gov. However, the office cannot guarantee security through the e-mail system nor should official papers be transmitted through this route.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor, Gary Benzion, can be reached at (571) 272-0782.
Papers related to this application may be submitted to Art Unit 1681 by facsimile transmission. The faxing of such papers must conform with the notice published in the Official Gazette, 1156 OG 61 (November 16, 1993) and 1157 OG 94 (December 28, 1993) (see 37 CFR 1.6(d)). NOTE: If applicant does submit a paper by FAX, the original copy should be retained by applicant or applicant’s representative. NO DUPLICATE COPIES SHOULD BE SUBMITTED, so as to avoid the processing of duplicate papers in the Office. All official documents must be sent to the Official Tech Center Fax number: (571) 273-8300. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application should be directed to the Group receptionist whose telephone number is (571) 272-1600.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YOUNG J KIM/Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1637 August 25, 2026
/YJK/
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