Appeal No. 1998-2849 Page 16
Application No. 08/584,158
Claim 57 recites
The method as set forth in claim 56, wherein the step of
recording a preferred response from said selection of
possible responses from each of said two or more
preselected individuals is replaced by the step of
requiring each of said two or more preselected
individuals to provide their own preferred response.
[emphasis ours]
It is our determination that the appellant's use of the
phrase "is replaced by" in claim 57 causes claim 57 to violate
the fourth paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112. In that regard, the
phrase "is replaced by" in claim 57 causes claim 57 to not
include all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
CONCLUSION
To summarize, the decision of the examiner to reject
claims 35 through 74 under 35 U.S.C. § 101 is reversed; the
decision of the examiner to reject claims 35 through 74 under
35 U.S.C.
§ 112, first paragraph, is reversed; the decision of the
examiner to reject claims 35 through 74 under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
second paragraph, is reversed; the decision of the examiner to
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