Appeal No. 2002-1658
Application No. 08/922,339
key server. The key server uses the ID number to find the
corresponding decryption key and transmits the key to the user's
terminal. Clearly, as disclosed and claimed, the identification
code originates at the file server and the decryption key
originates at a key server and each is received by the user. The
user is not the source of either the identification code or the
key; servers supply both.
Next, that a user "can" obtain an encryption key different
ways does not speak to the obviousness of obtaining the key a
different way. The Federal Circuit has held that "[t]he mere
fact that the prior art may be modified in the manner suggested
by the Examiner does not make the modification obvious unless the
prior art suggested the desirability of the modification." In re
Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1266 n.14, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1783-4 n.14
(Fed. Cir. 1992), citing In re Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902, 221,
USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Cir. 1984).
Further, we are unable to find in the references the
advantages given by the examiner for the modification. A factual
inquiry whether to modify a reference must be based on objective
evidence of record, not merely conclusionary statements of the
examiner. See In re Lee, 277 F.2d 1338, 1342-43, 61 USPQ2d 1430,
1433 (Fed. Cir. 2002). Also, adding to Steinberg's system a key
server for distributing the decryption key would involve a
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