Appeal No. 2004-1324
Application No. 09/495,116
main purpose of the sponsor is to publicize its products and/or
services to those users who are on the list of registered users.
Kupka, on the other hand, checks a user’s information
against the registered list for prepayment confirmation (col. 2,
lines 48-65), but does not provide any such authorized list for
the sites that could be the source of the file for downloading.
Therefore, Kupka’s teachings, at best, would be applicable to the
user’s access to the Internet after the user has already browsed
through the sponsor’s advertisements. Thus, although we agree
with the Examiner that Kupka’s process for downloading encrypted
files could be used when users attempt to download protected
files, we are not convinced that its combination with the free
Internet access of Alles and Toader would produce the claimed
subject matter.
As discussed above, Kupka allows the prepaid and registered
users to download protected files whereas Alles and Toader grant
free access to the Internet to users registered by the sponsor
web site. In concluding that the combination would have taught
the claimed subject matter, the Examiner attempts to forge a
combination of a free Internet access and a prepaid registry for
eliminating the transmission of personal data each time a
download is requested. Thus, assuming, arguendo, that it would
have been obvious to combine Alles and Toader with Kupka, as held
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