Appeal No. 1998-1898
Application 08/497,721
687 F.2d 450, 454, 215 USPQ 14, 17 (CCPA 1982) ("But
certainly one's own invention, whatever the form of
disclosure to the public, may not be prior art against
oneself, absent a statutory bar." [Emphasis in original.]
(Citing In re Facius, 408 F.2d 1396, 1406, 161 USPQ 294, 302
(CCPA 1969).)). Furthermore, § 102(a) does not relate to
"public use or on sale." Accordingly, § 102(a) is not a
proper statutory basis for rejection in this case and the
Examiner's rejection, to the extent it relies on § 102(a),
is reversed.
The AIN News article, which was published before the
critical date, indicates that a "FindMe" service, which
provides "alternate location forwarding (three possible
locations) . . .," and a "Scheduled Forwarding" service,
which "provides time-of-day/day-of-week routing . . ." are
scheduled for trial. The AIN News article quotes Mr.
Henningson, one of the co-inventors on this application, as
stating that U.S. West is "getting into the marketplace" and
is "offering the services now." The AIN News article
provides no details of how these two services would work and
the Examiner has not attempted to reject the claims on the
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