Appeal No. 2004-1959
Application No. 09/465,465
a prima facie case of anticipation. The burden is, therefore,
upon Appellants to come forward with evidence and/or arguments
which persuasively rebut the Examiner’s prima facie case. Only
those arguments actually made by Appellants have been considered
in this decision. Arguments which Appellants could have made but
chose not to make in the Briefs have not been considered and are
deemed to be waived (see 37 CFR § 41.37(c)(1)(vii)).
Appellants’ arguments in response to the rejection of claim
1 assert that the Examiner has not shown how each of the claimed
features are present in the disclosure of Gerace so as to
establish a case of anticipation. Appellants’ primary point of
contention (Brief, pages 6-9; Reply Brief, pages 2 and 3) is that
Gerace lacks a disclosure of the claimed feature of “creating a
statement including a variable data customer document . . . . ”
After careful review of the Gerace reference in light of the
arguments of record, we are in general agreement with the
Examiner’s position as stated in the Answer. Appellants’
arguments, at various instances in the Briefs, urge that the
claimed term “statement” must be interpreted as containing “at
least one listing of a credit or a debit” (Brief, page 8), or an
“account” statement (id., at 9), or “information regarding a
customer’s account.” (Reply Brief, page 3). Our review of
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