Appeal No. 2006-1874
Reexamination Control No. 90/006,351
of units of the commodity is held for the account of one identified person. For the apparatus
invention, there is a computer system for processing accounting transactions denominated in
units of the stored commodity; there is an account data storage device for recording data
comprising an identification of persons and a quantity of units of the commodity credited to the
account of each person and an identification of the deposit site; and there is a transaction data
storage device for receiving records of transactions denominated in units of the stored
commodity from a person having a credit in his or her associated account. The transaction
records include identification of a person who will receive a debit, a person who will receive a
credit, an amount of the debit in units of the stored commodity, the amount of the credit in units
of the stored commodity, and identification of the deposit site where the debited and credited
quantities are held. There is a transaction posting device for posting records of transactions to
update the balance in each person’s account, and a remote terminal at the deposit site for sending
and receiving data to the computer system, which data identifies a person and a quantity of units
of the stored commodity held for an account of that person. The system is said to permit the
conducting of financial transactions without reliance on national currencies whereby obligations
of a person receiving a debit to another person receiving a credit are extinguished upon posting
of the records of transactions. The process invention includes steps corresponding to the
functions carried out by the various elements of the apparatus invention.
According to the patentee, the invention eliminates payment risks. Relying on a
declaration of co-inventor James J. Turk, the patentee in its appeal brief describes several types
of payment risks associated with conventional non-asset-based instruments. First, there is
payment risk caused by fractional banking, which happens when banks keep on deposit only a
fraction of the assets they are holding for the account of their depositors and lend out or invest
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