Appeal No. 2006-1050
Application No. 09/852,831
to the reserve price is received it is in the interest of the buyer to extend the
auction.
While we concur with the examiner that the dynamics of the two auctions
are similar and that Alaia teaches a concept similar to the reserve price, we do
not find that Alaia teaches or suggests that the auction period should be
extended, go into overtime, if there is no bid equal to or greater then the reserve
price.
Alaia teaches an electronic auction system. Alaia states that there are
three models for online procurement catalog, buyer bidding auction and seller
bidding auction. See column 1, lines 24, 25. In a seller bidding auction buyers
want to save money, and sellers downwardly bid to achieve the lowest price.
Alaia is primarily concerned with a seller downward bid auction. See column 2,
lines 17 through 22. Alaia is also applicable to an upward bid auction, buyer bid
auction. See column 27, lines 60 through 64. Further, Alaia teaches that in both
buyer and seller auctions there are bid limitations on price, if these limitations are
not met the bid will not be accepted, i.e. if the bid is below (seller auction) or
higher (buyer auction) the bid will not be accepted. Alaia teaches that the
auction may go into overtime where bids will be accepted past the scheduled
closing time of the auction. See column 13, lines 26 through 39. Alaia teaches
that overtime is triggered when lower bids submitted are within a predetermined
time of the closing of the auction. Thus overtime allows other bidders to see and
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007