DETAILED ACTION
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 . 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 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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (claims 27-28, 30-33, and 35-40) and the species lip formula (I) (E6-2) in the reply filed on 18 May 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the prior art does not disclose such lipids, and also because a search of Group II would necessarily encompass the subject matter of Group I, and thus there is no serious search burden. This is not found persuasive. The subject matter of Group I does not make a contribution over the prior art. See Japanese Patent Publication 2004 238763 (discussed below in more detail). And as for the search burden, this is not found persuasive as this is not a requirement for restriction in view of the unity of invention standard. The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim 32 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species (nonelected “T” in the formula), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Claims 41-50 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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 27-28, 30-33, 33, 35-36, and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hiroshi et al. (Japanese Patent Publication 2004 238763 – machine translation provided).
Hiroshi et al. discloses compounds such as that below:
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398
508
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This compound is exemplified as compound C1-17 (table 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 37 and 39-40 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter. The closest prior art is the above cited Hiroshi et al. The compounds recited by instant claims 37 and 39-40 are not suggested therein, nor would modifications to the disclosed compounds have been suggested by the prior art to one of ordinary skill in the art.
The Examiner contacted Joel Armstrong on 20 May 2026 to attempt to place the application in condition for allowance, but no resolution was reached.
Conclusion
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/Brian Gulledge/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1699
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