Appeal No. 2006-2346
Application No. 09/931,358
of the final Office action dated Dec. 23, 2004.1 Throughout the opinion we make
reference to the briefs, the answer and the Office action for the respective details thereof.
Opinion
We have considered the subject matter on appeal, the rejections advanced by the
examiner and the evidence of anticipation and obviousness relied upon by the examiner
in support of the rejections. We have likewise, reviewed and taken into consideration, in
reaching our decision, appellant’s arguments set forth in the briefs along with the
examiner’s rationale in support of the rejections and arguments in rebuttal set forth in the
examiner’s answer.
With full consideration being given to the subject matter on appeal, the
examiner’s rejections and the arguments of appellant and the examiner, and for the
reasons stated infra we sustain the examiner’s rejections of claims 1 through 9 under
35 U.S.C. § 102(e) and 35 U.S.C. § 103(a). However, we will not sustain the examiner’s
rejections of claim 14 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) and 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
Initially we note that appellant does not separately argue claims 2 through 9,
accordingly we group claims 2 through 9 with claim 1 and will discuss claim 14
separately.
On pages 4 through 9 of the brief, appellant presents arguments directed to the
proper interpretation of the claim terms “customer’ and “consumer.” While appellant’s
arguments on pages 4 through 9 of the brief are directed primarily to the now withdrawn
rejection based upon Roberts and Brockman, we will address the issue as it has bearing
on the rejections based upon Peterson. In response to these arguments, the examiner
adopts the appellant’s asserted meanings for these terms. On page 8 of the answer, the
examiner finds that the claim term “customer” means: “any purchaser of goods where
1 We note the appealed final rejection also rejected claims 1-9 and 14 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 112 and under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Roberts and Brockman.
However, the examiner states on pages 2 and 3 of the answer all rejections except the
rejections relating to Peterson are withdrawn.
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