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 of Group IV in the reply filed on 7/16/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2612171.
Regarding claim 6, JP 2612171 teaches a method of combining proteins including a protein-deamidated soybean protein and egg white protein that are heat-coagulable (See p. 2, l. 38 to. p. 3, l. 6.), however, fails to expressly disclose a heat-coagulating step.
It would have been foreseeable and obvious prior to the earliest effective filing date since JP 2612171 states the ingredients are heat-coagulable and the mixture is used in the formation of cooked coagulated sausage that a heat-coagulating step would be carried out. The combination and processing of materials would have been within the skill set of a person having ordinary skill in the art.
A method for producing a heat-coagulated gel, comprising: a mixing step of mixing a composition containing a protein-deamidated soybean protein with egg white protein to prepare an egg white protein mixture; and a heat coagulation step of heat-coagulating the egg white protein mixture.
Conclusion
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/BRENT T O'HERN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1793
July 20, 2026
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