Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 09/09/2026 has been entered.
3. Claims 1-26 and 28-29 are pending and under consideration for their full scope.
4. IDS filed on 11/17/2025 has been considered.
5. 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.
6. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 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 –
(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States.
7. Claims 1-2, 20-26 and 28 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(b) as being anticipated by Guo et al. (PTO-892; Reference U) as evidenced by the sequences in PTO-892; References V-X and Page 2 references U and V.
Guo et al. teaches cDNA libraries derived from developing peanut seeds at three reproduction stages. The cDNA inserts were ligated to the pBlueScript vector. (In particular, methods, whole document).
The libraries produced the following sequences:
A. TFR5_53_C10_E001.g1 USDA-Tifton Peanut Library TFR5 Arachis hypogaea cDNA clone TFR5-053-75_C10 5', mRNA sequence GenBank: ES711246 (PTO-892; Reference V) which comprises nucleic acid encoding instant SEQ ID NOs 6-7 and 24-29.
B. TFR7_16_E10_E001.g1 USDA-Tifton Peanut Library TFR7 Arachis hypogaea cDNA clone TFR7-016-77_E10 5', mRNA sequence GenBank: ES716519.1(PTO-892; Reference W) which comprises nucleic acid encoding instant SEQ ID NO:2.
C. C20R5_32_B03_E002.g1 USDA-Tifton Peanut Library C20R5 Arachis hypogaea cDNA clone C20R5-032-18_B03 5', mRNA sequence GenBank: ES704488.1 2008(PTO-892; Reference X) which comprises nucleic acid encoding instant SEQ ID NO:6.
D. C20R6_22_G02_E002.g1 USDA-Tifton Peanut Library C20R6 Arachis hypogaea cDNA clone C20R6-022-15_G02 5', mRNA sequence GenBank: ES707189.1 (PTO-892; Page 2; Reference U) which comprises nucleic acid encoding instant SEQ ID NOs 5 and 19-22.
E. C20R5_9_F11_E002.g1 USDA-Tifton Peanut Library C20R5 Arachis hypogaea cDNA clone C20R5-009-86_F11 5', mRNA sequence GenBank: ES703231.1 (PTO-892; Page 2; Reference V) which comprises nucleic acid encoding instant SEQ ID NOs 30-33.
The reference teachings anticipate the claimed invention.
8. The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
9. Claims 1 and 29 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Guo et al. (PTO-892; Reference U) as evidenced by the sequences in PTO-892; References V-X and Page 2 references U and V.
Guo has been discussed supra.
The claimed invention differs from the prior art in the recitation of “wherein the vector is a viral vector” in claim 29.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to have produced the library in viral vectors instead of Bluescript vectors because libraries can be produced in a variety of vectors and substituting one vector for another would produce predictable results.
From the combined teachings of the reference, it is apparent that one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success in producing the claimed invention. Therefore, the invention as a whole was prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made, as evidenced by the references, especially in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
10. Claims 3-19 are objected to for dependence upon rejected base claims 1-2 but appear to be allowable if re-written in independent form.
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NORA MAUREEN ROONEY whose telephone number is (571)272-9937. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 8:00am to 4:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner' s supervisor, Misook Yu, can be reached at telephone number (571) 272-0839. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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September 29, 2026
/Nora M Rooney/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1641
