Appeal No. 2000-0376
Application 08/753,236
by Dietrich, but finds that Cordery discloses a method for
marking mail with indicia identifying a manufacturer of the
indicia stamping system, which is suggestive of identifying the
machine manufacturer, and serves the same purpose of tracking the
source of the indicia printing (EA8). The Examiner concludes
that it would have been obvious to modify Dietrich to include the
machine manufacturer because it aids in preventing and detecting
counterfeiting and it increases the number of parameters that a
counterfeiter would have to manipulate to escape detection (EA9).
Appellant argues that USPS regulations require that the
manufacturer of a postal metering system identify the serial
number of the meter that produced the indicia to reduce the
possibility of fraud, but USPS regulations do not mention or
anticipate that the manufacturer of the printer be included in
the postal indicia (Br14). It is argued that Appellant is not
concerned with the increase in security (Br14).
It seems that Appellant is trying to make a distinction
between the manufacturer of the postal metering system and the
manufacturer of the printer. The postal metering system of
Dietrich includes a printer (col. 1, lines 38-39) and, thus, the
manufacturer of the system is also "the manufacturer of the
machine used to print the indicia," as claimed. Claim 3 does not
require a printer separate from rest of the system as disclosed.
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