Appeal No. 2002-0086 Page 6
Application No. 09/053,880
USPQ 193, 198 (Fed. Cir. 1983); Kalman v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 713 F.2d760, 771,
218 USPQ 781, 789 (Fed. Cir. 1983)). "[A]bsence from the reference of any claimed
element negates anticipation." Kloster Speedsteel AB v. Crucible, Inc., 793 F.2d 1565,
1571, 230 USPQ 81, 84 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Here, "[t]he examiner believes that . . . [the claimed] 'vehicles' . . . are equivalent
to [O'Brien's] 'travel carriers'. . . ." (Examiner's Answer at 6.) The travel carriers include
United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Airlines. O'Brien, col. 4, ll. 31-47. We
agree with the appellant that "in the O'Brien patent, predetermined travel links
presumes a predetermined trip manifest for each of the vehicles. In the case of
O'Brien, the airlines that serve as the vehicles have pre-scheduled flights that connect
predetermined points at predetermined times." (Reply Br. at 2.) The reference implies
the use of such trip manifests by referring to "the scheduled departure and arrival time
for each travel service, . . . the number of travel services offered between a particular
travel origin and a particular travel destination, whether a particular travel service
requires a connection or stop-over, and if so, the connection or stop-over time. . . ."
Col. 3, ll. 48-55.
We are unpersuaded, however, that the airlines dynamically update their trip
manifests in response to the scheduling of an individual trip. To the contrary, we agree
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