Appeal No. 2001-1862
Application No. 09/102,044
With this as background, we analyze the prior art applied by the examiner in the
rejection of the claims on appeal.
GROUP ONE
The examiner maintains that the claimed invention is obvious in view of the
broad teachings of the Your Choice MasterCard prepaid card. (See answer at pages
4-9.) The examiner goes to great length to explain her position concerning all the
claimed features as they are taught or deemed obvious in view of “old and well-known”
facts in the prior art. In the discussion of the claimed elements the examiner relies
upon “old and well-known” facts no less than six times in the discussion of independent
claim 53. While there is no limitation on the number of times an examiner relies upon
“old and well-known” facts and Official Notice nor the number of references that may be
relied upon to reject a claim, there is ultimately a point in the prosecution when
appellants may demand that the examiner provide evidence to support those facts
maintained as “old and well-known.” Here, appellants have not specifically rebutted
that the individual facts maintained by the examiner as “old and well-known” are indeed
“old and well-known.” (See brief at pages 6-12.) Rather, appellants argue that the
examiner has not addressed the subject matter as a whole. (See brief at page 8.) We
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