Appeal 2007-1715 Page 4
Application 10/033,224
… Godin et al. disclose a shipping method which indeed uses the
UPC barcode value for an item to look up the weight of the item in a
computer database in order to use that weight value as one of the necessary
inputs to calculate shipping costs for the item, and the system of Godin et al.
works over the Internet.
Answer 4-5.
The Examiner finds
[I]t would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the
time of the invention, to have modified the system and method of Nicholls et
al. so as to determine the weight of an item to be shipped by using the UPC
barcode to look up the weight of the item in a database rather than by
measuring the weight with a scale, as well as to work over the Internet, all in
accordance with the teachings of Godin et al., in order to eliminate the need
to re-measure the weight of identical items each time one of those identical
items was being shipped, and in order to work with any terminal in the world
connected to the Internet, thereby saving time and effort.
Answer 5. Accordingly, the Examiner contends that one of ordinary skill in the art
given Godin would have been led to modify the Nicholls method to include claim
steps (c)-(e).
Appellant does not dispute Examiner’s characterization of Nicholls or the
Examiner’s characterization of the difference between the claimed invention and
Nicholls. Appellant disputes the relevance of Godin. Appellant argues that “Godin
discloses a product weight as part of the shipping cost but does not disclose
anything about the packing material and container.” Br. 17. Appellant argues that
“Godin discloses a reverse auction system in which the weight of the product is
part of the shipping cost. Godin does not disclose how to determine the weight of
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