Appeal 2006-3387
Application 09/385,489
promotion. (Windish Decl. ¶ 40).
Appellants also presented articles purporting to show a long-felt need to:
resolve misunderstandings over deal terms (Windish Decl. ¶ 60), improve
efficiency in resolving deductions and analysis (Windish Decl. ¶¶ 61-63),
administer the trade promotion (Windish Decl. ¶ 65), include the retailers and
provide an independent system for administering trade promotions (Windish Decl.
¶ 67), improve invoice accuracy (Windish Decl. ¶ 69), and improve
communications, increase data synchronization, and improve information systems
(Windish Decl. ¶ 70).
Even assuming that the Appellants’ objective evidence demonstrates the
needs asserted by Appellants, the Jones audit system solves the verification
problem and thus meets these needs by capturing the POS transaction data in an
independent third-party computer system and auditing the data so that the
manufacturer can independently verify the number of promoted products sold by
the retailer during the trade promotion period. Further, the manufacturer, using the
independently-verified number of products sold provided by Jones system, can also
verify the retailer’s calculated performance total due based on the terms of their
deal and calculate the amount of discounts that the retailer gave to the consumers
for the promoted products during the trade promotion.
The undisputed evidence indicates that there existed a felt need to
independently audit the number of promoted products sold during a trade
promotion. The evidence also demonstrates, however, that Jones created a system
to meet this need prior to Appellants’ invention. The relevant secondary
23
Page: Previous 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013