Appeal No. 2003-2165 Page 7
Application No. 09/067,093
ticket is valid, in response to inputting into the card a set of appropriate information by a
sporting event staff. . . ." Giving effect to the limitations, the claim requires determining
if an event ticket stored in a portable card is valid, wherein the determination is made
after the ticket has been purchased and is responsive to data input to the card by
sporting event staff.
2. Obviousness Determination
Having determined what subject matter is being claimed, the next inquiry is
whether the subject matter would have been obvious. "In rejecting claims under 35
U.S.C. Section 103, the examiner bears the initial burden of presenting a prima facie
case of obviousness." In re Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531, 1532, 28 USPQ2d 1955, 1956 (Fed.
Cir. 1993) (citing In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir.
1992)). "'A prima facie case of obviousness is established when the teachings from the
prior art itself would itself would appear to have suggested the claimed subject matter to
a person of ordinary skill in the art.'" In re Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 783, 26 USPQ2d 1529,
1531 (Fed. Cir. 1993) (quoting In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1051, 189 USPQ 143,
147 (CCPA 1976)).
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