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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-19 are currently pending in the instant application. Applicants have amended claims 1-10, 13, 15-18 and added new claim 19 in an amendment filed on May 1, 2025. Claims 2, 5-7, 9, 11-14 and 16-19 are rejected and claims 1, 3-4, 6, 10 and 15 are objected in this Office Action.
I. Priority
The instant application is a 371 of PCT/CN2022/137267, filed on December 7, 2022 and claims benefit of Foreign Application CHINA 202210186481.4, filed on filed on December 28, 2022.
II. Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on November 27, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
III. Rejections
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14 are 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Regarding claims 2, 5, 6,7 and 12-14, the phrase "preferably" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d). Applicants are suggested to delete the part of the limitation that has “preferably” to overcome the rejection.
Claims 7, 14 and 17 are 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Regarding claims 7 and 17, the phrase "such as" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d). Applicants are suggested to delete the part of the limitation that has “such as” to overcome the rejection.
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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Specifically, the term “including” is considered open-ended language when not clearly defined and therefore is including additional subject matter into the method claims that is not described in the instant specification and is not particularly pointed out or distinctly claimed. This rejection can be overcome, for example, by amending the phrase “include but are not limited to” so that it now reads “are selected from” in claims 7 and 17.
Claim 9 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. The term “enhancing” in claim 9 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “enhancing” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Applicants are suggested to cancel claim 9 to overcome the rejection.
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 11-14 and 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Baker, et al. (US 2022/0016075 A1). The instant invention claims
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The Baker, et al. reference teaches azaphilone derivatives such as
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(See page 1, compound III) wherein R1 is –(CH2)2OH; X is N; R3 is C6alkenyl substituted with C1 alkyl groups; R2 is Cl; R4 is -C(O)-CH3. These compounds are useful for treating infections caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This species of compound anticipates the genus compound of the instant invention, wherein the genus structure and its definitions are stated above.
IV. Objections
Dependent Claim Objections
Dependent Claim 15 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected based claim. To overcome this objection, Applicant should rewrite said claims in an independent form and include the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claim.
Claim Objections
Claim 1-19 are objected to because of the following informalities: the claims contain the phrase “or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts, stereoisomers” which should read “or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts or stereoisomers”. Appropriate correction is required.
V. Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shawquia Jackson whose telephone number is 571-272-9043. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:00 AM-3:30PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Adam Milligan can be reached on 571-270-7674. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/SHAWQUIA JACKSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1626
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