Appeal No. 2005-2016 Παγε 2
Application No. 09/682,988
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates to a method and system of restricted substance
management and recycling in a manufacturing corporate environment (appellants'
specification, page 1). The method includes the steps of inputting restricted substance
and recycle content data of parts supplied by a supplier for a vehicle into a computer
system of the vehicle manufacturer, reviewing the inputted data and determining (i.e.,
identifying) parts with banned or recycled content or substances over predetermined
thresholds and reporting the determined parts to the supplier and the vehicle
manufacturer. The reporting includes sending a notification of compliance if the result
of the reviewing step is that there are no determined parts and sending a notification of
non-compliance if there are determined parts. Independent claims 1, 17 and 18 are
representative with respect to the issues on appeal and are reproduced, infra, in the
opinion section of this decision.
The Evidence
The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner as evidence of
obviousness in rejecting the appealed claims are:
Fukatsu et al. (Fukatsu) 2002/0052666 May 2, 2002
Farmer et al. (Farmer) 2003/0004965 Jan. 2, 2003
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