Appeal 2006-3387
Application 09/385,489
identification card. Such systems require a linking code to link to the discounted
price of the product once a customer card has been presented at the point-of-sale.
As such, if the trade promotion of Jones was a trade promotion based on customer
cards, the system would need to capture and store the linking codes associated with
the price reductions. We find sufficient motivation to use a customer card-type
trade promotion, as taught in Schultz, in the system of Jones to further enhance the
functionality of the system by allowing retailers and manufacturers to better track
consumer purchases and behavior and use this information to improve future trade
promotions.
Based on our findings as to the evidence of long-felt need made supra, and
weighing all evidence of obviousness against all evidence of non-obviousness, we
find that Appellants’ evidence of long-felt need is not sufficient to overcome the
obviousness of the claimed invention. As such, the invention of claims 77-83
would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the
invention in view of Jones and Schultz. Accordingly, we conclude that the
Appellants have not shown that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 77-83 under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Jones and Schultz.
CLAIMS 90-94
Appellants argue claims 90-94 as a group (Br. 64-67). As such, we select
claim 90 as a representative claim and the remaining claims stand or fall together
with claim 90. Appellants reiterate the same arguments made as to claim 1 in
support of patentability of claim 90. We do not find these arguments persuasive
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