Appeal No. 2006-1050
Application No. 09/852,831
that is greater than or equal to a predetermined reserve price. On page 7 of the
brief, appellants assert Alaia does not teach or suggest anything that might
arguably correspond to a predetermined reserve price. Finally, appellants argue
that Alaia does not teach or suggest enabling a seller to designate a reserve
price, determining that none of the bids is equal to or greater then the reserve
price, determining that an extension of the auction is authorized and
automatically extending the auction.
In response the examiner asserts, on page 6 of the answer, that the
dynamics of the two auctions are the same. Further, on page 7 of the answer the
examiner states:
Alaia teaches two non-related features. The first is “Flexible Overtime”
starting on column 13; line 25. The second is “Pending Status” starting on
column 16; lines 42. Examiner notes that Alaia teaches that an auction
can have Flexible Overtime without requiring a Pending Status. Examiner
specifically references column 14; lines 31-59 which teaches several
implementations of Flexible Overtime. None of the implementations
require setting the status of an auction to “pending.”
In response to appellants’ arguments that Alaia contains no teaching or
suggestion of anything corresponding to a reserve price, the examiner states:
Alaia column 4; lines 4-7 states that “When a bidder submits a bid, that bid
is sent to the server component and evaluated to determine whether the
bid is from an authorized bidder, and whether the bid has exceeded a pre-
determined maximum acceptable price.” Examiner once again notes that
the “pre-determined maximum acceptable price” is the exact definition of a
reserve price.
Finally, the examiner, citing column 13, lines 61, 62; column 14, lines 27 through
30, asserts that overtime is triggered by a parameter or criteria that would
somehow be advantageous to the buyer and as such if no bid greater then equal
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