Appeal No. 97-1114 Page 10
Application No. 08/222,643
Under the provisions of 37 CFR § 1.196(b), we enter the
following new grounds of rejection.
Claims 6, 13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Kappus.
Kappus pertains to V/STOL aircraft (i.e., aircraft "capable
of taking off and landing either vertically or with a short
runway distance" (column 1, lines 4-5)). Kappus' specification,
at column 1, line 7 through column 2, line 5, contains the
following passages pertinent to appellant's claimed mass transit
system:
Commercial air transportation has brought
impressive benefits to the traveler, permitting him to
cross continents and oceans safely in a matter of hours
in comfortable aircraft propelled by gas turbine
engines of the turbofan and turbojet types. Continuing
progress for medium- and long-distance trips is already
well advanced with the scheduled introduction into
service of jumbo jet aircraft capable of carrying
several hundred travelers and supersonic aircraft
capable of crossing the ocean in less than 3 hours.
Aircraft operators have also benefited in these
advances by reason of decreased direct operating costs
and increased utilization times.
Shorter distance air travel has noticeably lagged
behind the advances of medium- and long-distance travel.
There are several reasons for this situation. One is the
large proportion of time required for land travel to and
from airports which are usually located many miles from an
urban center. Another is the long time spent
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