Appeal No. 2004-2085
Application 09/272,542
in Silverman are comparable to a "buy" order and "sell" order,
respectively. Harrington discloses an "offering" for bonds, in
particular, an original issue offering. Harrington describes an
original issuer auction whereby the auction is conducted by an
auctioneer hired by the Issuer to solicit and receive bids
(col. 6, lines 36-37). We have wrestled with the examiner's
reasoning that Harrington discloses an "order" because it is a
commission or instruction to sell a financial product, and with
the terminology that an "offer" can correspond to a "sell" order.
In view of the claim breadth, we do not see error in the
examiner's reading of "orders" on the "offerings" of financial
products in Harrington (although it is not clear that the two
auctions shown in Figs. 10 and 11 specify "a quantity of the
financial product," as claimed, this is not argued; note that
claim 33 does not require the order to specify a price) and
"responses" on the "bids" in Harrington. An "order" can be met
by either a "sell" order or a "buy" order. Claim 33 does not
require that the financial product to be sold is in existence and
the transaction can be completed immediately as opposed to after
an auction as taught by Harrington.
However, we agree with appellants that Harrington does not
teach "contra-side orders." A "contra-side order" requires a
contra (opposite) position, i.e., a "buy" order is contra to a
"sell" order and a "sell" order is contra to a "buy" order.
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