Appeal No. 2003-0989
Application No. 09/481,740
gathered has nothing to do with reputations of buyers and sellers
as determined by actual transaction participant behavior in
previous transactions. See page 8 of Appellant's brief. We note
that Appellant's independent claim 1 recites "building an
objective reputation profile of a transaction participant by an
objective third party participating in fulfillment of the
transaction based at least in part on the notifications." We
note that independent claims 6 and 11 have similar language.
The Examiner states that Ebay does not specifically disclose
an objective third party conducting the feedback profiling. See
page 4 of the answer. The Examiner argues that third party
groups routinely gather data regarding the conduct of buyers and
sellers and provide the data to new customers as an indication of
the validity and creditability of the institution. The Examiner
argues that such examples include J.D. Power and Associates,
Underwriter's Laboratories, ABET, etc. See page 5 of the answer.
The Federal Circuit reviews the Board's ultimate conclusion
of obviousness without deference, and the Board's underlying
factual determinations for substantial evidence. In re Huston,
308 F.3d 1267, 1276, 64 USPQ2d 1801, 1806 (Fed. Cir. 2002) citing
In re Gartside, 203 F.3d 1305, 1316, 53 USPQ2d 1769, 1776 (Fed.
Cir. 2000). "The Board's findings must extend to all material
66
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007