Appeal No. 1998-2848
Application 08/398,862
certificate of completion optionally including clues to solve
a next level of said puzzle." These steps are directed to a
"useful, concrete and tangible result" of playing a puzzle
game using ETCs. We do not agree with the Examiner's
conclusion that the steps are "ethereal." The § 101 rejection
of claim 19 and its dependent claim 20 is reversed.
NEW GROUND OF REJECTION UNDER 37 CFR § 1.196(b)
Independent claim 21 and dependent claims 22-37
We enter a new ground of rejection under 37 CFR
§ 1.196(b) as to claim 21 and its dependent claims 22-37 under
35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph.
Claim 21 recites the single step of "a dissociating a
computer program, consisting of a plurality of electronic
trading cards (ETCs), each ETC corresponding to a
disassociated computer code segment and having an electronic
format that supports card scarcity and card authenticity." In
our opinion, the phrase "a dissociating a computer program" is
indefinite under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph. It cannot
be determined whether claim 21 intends to recite "dissociating
a computer program" or "a dissociating computer program." In
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