Appeal No. 2005-1266 9
Application No. 10/227,755
order to achieve your goal. It is up to your discretion how to
move your man around and in which direction [column 7, lines 31
through 34].
Claim 11 recites a method of playing a board game
comprising, inter alia, the steps of (1) providing a game board
divided into first, second and third sections and (2) moving
playing pieces sequentially through the first and second sections
and then to the third section to be eligible to win the game.
The examiner’s finding that “each side of the [Rosi] board is
being interpreted as a section of the path” (final rejection,
page 2) is reasonable on its face. Consequently, Rosi does meet
the first of the above noted steps in claim 11. The examiner’s
additional determination that “[t]he continuous circling [i.e.,
square] configuration [of Rosi’s path] clearly demonstrates the
[claimed] sequential movement of playing pieces” (answer, page 4)
is not well taken. As indicated above, Rosi indicates that it is
within each player’s discretion how and in which direction to
move his or her playing piece around the board. This disclosure
does not embody a fair teaching of a step of moving playing
pieces sequentially through first and second sections and then to
a third section to be eligible to win the game as set forth in
claim 11.
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