Ex Parte Storey - Page 7



          Appeal No. 2005-1722                                                         
          Application 10/420,901                                                       
               Award points                                                            
               The examiner finds that although Cameron does not explicitly            
          teach that the awards are "award points," they must inherently be            
          so because the structure in the reference is substantially                   
          identical to that in the claims (FR3) and because "Cameron does              
          teach product-to-product cross selling and a promotional club                
          (col. 20 lines 8 and 24), both of which are facilitated by a                 
          system of award points" (FR3).  Alternatively, the examiner finds            
          that "because [Cameron] does teach product-to-product cross                  
          selling and a promotional club, both of which are facilitated by             
          a system of award points, it would have been obvious to one of               
          ordinary skill in the art ... to add award points to the system              
          of incentives taught by Cameron" (FR3).                                      
               Appellant argues that the marketing promotions in Cameron do            
          not include nor suggest award points that are redeemable for                 
          awards (Br10).  It is argued that there is no support for the                
          examiner's conclusion that it would have been obvious to include             
          award points as a promotion, and the fact that promotions may be             
          driven by order or by customer does not disclose or suggest that             
          the promotions may comprise award points which are redeemable for            
          rewards (Br11).  Appellants argue that Cameron's marketing                   
          promotions are intended to influence a user to make a particular             
          purchase with which a particular promotion is associated, while              

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