DETAILED ACTION
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
Claims 1-4 are currently pending.
Claims 1-4 are being examined in this application.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 3 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, the recitation of “Beauveria bassiana” on line 4 should be italicized.
Claim 3, the recitation of “Beauveria bassiana” on line 1 should be italicized.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kellar et al (US 2016/0270407 A1; 9/22/2016.).
The instant claims recite an insecticidal method comprising a step of treating soil or a plant with a microbial insecticide formulation, wherein said formulation comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of a Beauveria bassiana KNU-101 strain deposited under accession number: KCTC 13660BP, a culture of the strain, a concentrate of the culture, and a dried product of the culture, as an ingredient.
Kellar teaches a method for controlling one or more pest with a biopesticide comprising contacting a plant or plant part with one or more of the biopesticides (para 0321), or treating a soil with one or more of the biopesticides (para 0322), wherein said one or more of the biopesticides comprises a Beauveria bassiana strain (para 0083-0084), said biopesticides may be used as a pesticide directly from a culture medium or subject to purification and/or further processing steps (para 0091), said one or more pest comprises thrips (para 0308, 0319), and said biopesticides retain a sufficient effective amount of activity when used (para 0080). The biopesticide may be in the form of granule (para 0067-0068).
Kellar does not teach the claimed Beauveria bassiana strain having the claimed accession number (claim 1).
However, Kellar does teach said one or more biopesticides comprises a Beauveria bassiana strain, and said one or more biopesticides controls pests including thrips. Hence, Kellar’s strain and the claimed strain exhibit same characteristics – having insecticidal activity against thrips. Therefore, the reference strain would nevertheless have rendered the claimed strain obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, in view of the clear, close relationship between the strains as evidenced by their belonging to the same species and their essential characteristics. Thus, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute Kellar’s strain for other Beauveria bassiana strains such as the claimed strain for the predictable result of controlling one or more pest.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kellar et al (US 2016/0270407 A1; 9/22/2016.) as applied to claims 1-2 and 4 above, further in view of Nunez-Gaona et al (Braz. Arch. Biol. Technol. 2010;53(4):771-777.).
Kellar does not teach the culture medium comprises a mixture of water and bran (claim 3).
However, Kellar does teach said one or more biopesticides may be produced in a liquid culture media or a solid culture media fermentation process, the media comprises yeast extract and glycerol (para 0090), and said fermentation process is well known in the art (para 0091). Nunez-Gaona teaches a fermentation process comprising culturing a Beauveria bassiana strain in a medium comprises a mixture of water and bran (p.772 col left – para 3-4).
Thus, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate water and bran, since Kellar discloses that fermentation process of one or more biopesticides including Beauveria bassiana is well known in the art, and Nunez-Gaona discloses that water and bran are routinely incorporated in a Beauveria bassiana culture. Moreover, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated by the cited reference and routine practice to incorporate water and bran, with a reasonable expectation for successfully controlling one or more pest.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LYNN Y FAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3541. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7am-4pm.
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/Lynn Y Fan/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
