Appeal No. 2005-2439
Application No. 09/754,378
argument, appellants argue that Von Kohorn and Saigh are outside
appellants’ field of endeavor, which is said to be the electronic
distribution of coupons in a way which reduces fraud. Appellants
also argue that the applied references are not reasonably
pertinent to the problems with which appellants were involved.
Appellants list several problems in support of this contention
[brief, pages 14-18]. The examiner responds by citing several
portions of Von Kohorn and Saigh which, according to the
examiner, demonstrate that Von Kohorn and Saigh teach all of the
claim elements. Appellants respond that Von Kohorn is not
primarily directed to a coupon distribution system. Appellants
also respond that Von Kohorn and Saigh are not concerned with
deterring fraud in print-at-home coupons or tracking user
activity [reply brief, pages 3-8].
We are not persuaded by appellants’ arguments that Von
Kohorn and Saigh are non-analogous art. Independent claim 76
recites a method of viewing and printing at a remote terminal
user-specific incentives. There is no question that Von Kohorn
prints user-specific coupons at user terminals. The fact that
Von Kohorn also teaches a method for measuring the effectiveness
of different stimuli on user purchases does not detract from the
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