Appeal No. 2005-1431
Application 09/442,070
implicitly related to network environment, distributed hypermedia, hyperlink, network server,
network browser,[or] browser application can be found in the '701 disclosure or drawings that
may lead one of skill[] in the art to the networking aspect of the disclosed in-place activation of
[a] containee object." Id. We do not agree that the '701 patent specifically discloses a single-
workstation environment; the patent does not explain whether the disclosed software is to be run
on (1) a stand-alone computer, (2) a computer which is part of a computer network, or (3) both
types of computers.
On the other hand, we also do not agree with appellants that one skilled in the art would
have understood from the '701 patent's discussion of object linking and embedding in a
windowing environment that the disclosed invention is intended for use in a network
environment. Specifically, appellants argue that
the specification describes a computing or "window environment" for object
linking and embedding (OLE) that was known to function in both network and
stand-alone environments. Keeping in mind the specification's reliance o[n] the
"parlance" of object oriented programming (Col. 7, lines 38-50), one of ordinary
skill in the art would view the general references to a "window environment" in
the specification to encompass both local and network environments. For
example, the specification speaks in terms of a "windowing operating system
environment (Col. 13, lines 63-65), an "object-oriented environment" (Col. 42,
lines 26-27), "the Microsoft Windows 3.1 environment" (Col. 52, lines 57-59),
and "a container window environment " (Abstract, lines 1-3). There is not a
reference to a "stand-alone" environment.
Brief at 37. As evidence that persons skilled in the art recognized that OLE can be used for
linking files over a network, appellants quote the following passages from Paul Klemond, Taking
the Bull by the Horns: Investigating Object Linking and Embedding, Part I, 7 Microsoft Systems
Journal 19, 21 (Mar./Apr. 1992) (Attachment I to the brief) (appellants' emphasis):
40
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