Appeal No. 2005-2643
Reexamination Control No. 90/005,842
component or adjusting the accrual component.” Brief at 22. Furthermore, appellant’s
‘673 patent admits that it was known in the art to link either the principal component or
the accrual component of an indexed bond to inflation. Specifically, under the heading
“2. Description of the Prior Art,” the patent describes a first indexed mortgage loan
instrument in which the “mortgage balance” (i.e., principal component) is linked to
inflation (col. 1, l. 63 to col. 2, l. 66) and a second indexed mortgage loan instrument in
which a variable interest component is linked to inflation. Id. at col. 2, ll. 5-11. We
agree with the examiner that it would have been obvious in view of Mukherjee
considered in view of Musmanno for a bank to offset the costs of indexed deposit
accounts either by investing in indexed bonds or by offering indexed loans, with the
principal component or the interest component of the bonds or loans being linked to
inflation. The rejection of claims 12 and 13 is therefore affirmed.
The rejection of claims 14-21, which are dependent on claims addressed above,
rejected over the same prior art as those claims, and not separately argued, is also
affirmed.
Independent claim 22, which reads as follows, differs from claim 9 by identifying
the indexed asset as a mortgage loan secured by real estate:
22. A method of an institution to manage at least part of a program to
provide a depositor of funds a rate of return on said funds variable with a
rate of inflation, comprising:
providing a deposit account by the institution for receiving said
funds from said depositor;
allocating at least a portion of said funds for obtaining an asset
whose rate of return adjusts with inflation, said adjustments
being determined using a data processor;
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