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 .
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Garrigues et al. Direct determination of ethanol and methanol in liquid samples by means of vapor phase-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Vibrational Spectroscopy, December 1997, Pages 219-228.
Regarding claims 1-4, Garrigues teaches a FTIR procedure to determine the values of methanol and ethanol in liquid samples, such as alcoholic beverages and cologne. From the experimentations of Garrigues it was determined that the amount of methanol in alcoholic beverages and colognes ranged from 0.5 to 3.5% v/v (relevant to claims 1-4) (abstract). Garrigues additionally teaches the beverages or colognes included 1-propanol and 2-propanol and their values ranges in Fig. 4
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In terms of inhibiting aflatoxin production by an aflatoxin-producing fungus of the genus Aspergillus is of intended use and does not add any additional structural limitations to the product as per MPEP 211.02 (II): If the body of a claim fully and intrinsically sets forth all of the limitations of the claimed invention, and the preamble merely states, for example, the purpose or intended use of the invention, rather than any distinct definition of any of the claimed invention’s limitations, then the preamble is not considered a limitation and is of no significance to claim construction. Shoes by Firebug LLC v. Stride Rite Children’s Grp., LLC, 962 F.3d 1362, 2020 USPQ2d 10701 (Fed. Cir. 2020).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 are free of the arts. Closest prior art is of Ren et al., Ethanol lnhibits Aflatoxin B1 Biosynthesis in Asperigillus flavus by Up-Regulating Oxidative Stress-Related Genes, Frontiers in Micro, January 2020, Pages 1-12.
Ren teaches a method to inhibit fungal growth and aflatoxin B1 production by Asperigillus flavus (abstract) in a dose dependent manner by the administration of ethanol. Ren teaches in order to investigate the effect of ethanol on Asperigillus flavus growth, concentrations of 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5 and 6% of ethanol was trialed. From the trials Ren concluded 3.5% of ethanol had the greatest down regulation of Asperigillus flavus growth (Pg. 6, right column last para.). Ethanol as known in the art is C2H60
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Conclusion
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MIKHAIL O'DONNEL. ROBINSON
Examiner
Art Unit 1627
/MIKHAIL O'DONNEL ROBINSON/Examiner, Art Unit 1627
/SARAH PIHONAK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1627
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