Appeal No. 96-0667
Application 08/061,249
adjacent thereto. The examiner states [answer, page 3] that it
is "inherent" for the businesses "to be charged an advertising
fee for the numbers being attached to the telephone." However,
appellant challenges the examiner's allegation of "inherency," at
page 9 of the brief, stating that "[t]here are no advertising
fees in the prior art for signage [?] used with selected pay
telephone numbers." Since Davis speaks of "subscribing taxi
companies" [column 7, line 40], it is not unreasonable to assume
that these taxi companies pay for the privilege of advertising
their telephone number.
The examiner recognizes that Davis does not disclose
these telephone numbers as being of the toll-free variety or that
the cost of advertising will be added to the billing statement,
as claimed. However, the examiner contends [answer, page 4],
that it is "well known" to provide businesses with toll-free
telephone numbers and cites Smith for that proposition, adding
that it is an "inherent" feature to record the toll-free calls
for proper billing.
While we can agree with the examiner insofar as the
notoriety of providing businesses with toll-free telephone
numbers and of charging businesses for such service and for
advertising, the instant claims do not merely call for charging a
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