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 .
Status of the Claims
This Office Action is in response to Applicant's Restriction Requirement remarks filed on July 10, 2026. Claim(s) 1-10 are pending. Applicant's election of species of formula Ic without traverse of the restriction requirement in the reply is acknowledged. The requirement is deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL. Claim(s) 1-10 are examined herein insofar as they read on the elected invention and species. The elected species was found free of the art, therefore the search was expanded to formula I in its entirety.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed recitation of a use, without setting forth any steps involved in the process, results in an improper definition of a process, i.e., results in a claim which is not a proper process claim under 35 U.S.C. 101. See for example Ex parte Dunki, 153 USPQ 678 (Bd.App. 1967) and Clinical Products, Ltd. v. Brenner, 255 F. Supp. 131, 149 USPQ 475 (D.D.C. 1966).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 7 provides for the use of a compound of formula I, but since the claim does not set forth any steps involved in the method/process, it is unclear what method/process applicant is intending to encompass. A claim is indefinite where it merely recites a use without any active, positive steps delimiting how this use is actually practiced.
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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Park (WO 2012/008781).
Park teaches agricultural chemical containing a 2,5-diketopiperazine derivative capable of controlling plant diseases and promoting plant growth, or an agriculturally acceptable salt thereof as an active ingredient (abstract).
Park teaches an agricultural medicament comprising as an active ingredient a compound selected from a 2,5-diketopiperazine derivative represented by Formula 1 and an agriculturally acceptable salt thereof (claim 1).
Formula I
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102
158
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274
508
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Park specifically teaches compound embraced by Formula I of the instant claims.
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311
636
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Compounds 24 and 34 above are isomers embraced by formula Ia of instant claim 7.
Park teaches an agricultural medicament, characterized in that it is prepared as a mixed agent further comprising a single or a mixture selected from other fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, plant growth regulators and fertilizers as the active ingredient (claim 5). Park teaches an agricultural chemical agent characterized in that it is formulated as a hydrating agent, a suspending agent, an emulsion, an emulsion, a suspending agent, a liquid preparation, a dispersible liquid preparation, a granular wetting agent, a granule, a powder, a liquid hydrating agent, a granular wetting agent, a sleep-injured granule or a tablet (claim 6). Park teaches an agricultural drug, characterized in that it has a growth promoting effect of plants, plant disease induction resistance (ISR), or at the same time (claim 7).
Park teaches plant disease is a method of preventing or inhibiting the development of plant diseases, characterized in that the disease, swelling disease, late blight, wilted disease, spot disease, or mosaic disease (claims 14-17).
Based on the foregoing reasons, the instant claims are deemed anticipated over the cited art.
Pertinent Prior Art Not Cited
MX 2012/004547
US 5,446,021
Conclusion
Claims 1-10 are not allowed.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Sahar Javanmard whose telephone number is (571)270-3280. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 9:00-5:00 EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James Alstrum-Acevedo can be reached on 571-272-5548. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
/SAHAR JAVANMARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1622
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