Appeal No. 2005-2643
Reexamination Control No. 90/005,842
of inflation.” Regarding claim 12 (adjusting the principal component based on inflation),
the examiner cites two passages in Mukherjee. Final Action at 12-13, ¶ 19. One
passage is Mukherjee’s statement that “capital was increased by as many as 2 full per
cents as the index had risen.” Because this statement refers to indexed deposit
accounts rather than indexed loans or bonds, this passage is less pertinent than the
other passage on which the examiner relies, which explains that principal component of
Karelian indemnity bonds was adjusted in response to inflation: “The method chosen
was to increase the principal by 10 per cent for every 10 per cent rise in the domestic
wholesale price index.” Id. at 57, 3d para. Although not relied on by the examiner,
Mukherjee also describes indexed government bonds whose amortization (i.e.,
principal) component and interest (i.e., accrual) component are adjusted in response to
inflation, thus satisfying claims 12 and 13:
However, the 5 per cent bond of May 1955, issued for public subscription,
was the only government bond (other than those associated with the
Karelian indemnity issues) to carry a full index clause, in the sense that
rises in the index were to cause matched rises (per cent for per cent) in
amortisation and interest payments. . . . After the full index link of 1955,
this form of inflation-proofing was abandoned in favour of one less
attractive to the buyer but safer for the seller. The ‘50 per cent clause’
meant that a rise of 2 per cent in the index brought only a 1 per cent rise in
amortisation and interest payments.
Mukherjee at 59-60. Claim 13 (adjusting the accrual component based on inflation)
additionally reads on the loan surcharges described at pages 50 and 51 of Mukherjee.
In view of the above teachings, appellant is incorrect to argue that “[t]here is no
evidence to address the question of whether Mukherjee teaches adjusting the principal
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