Appeal Number: 2007-0126
Application Number: 09/970,910
The examiner responds that the claim limitation “exchanging” is sufficiently
broad to encompass selling. (Answer 6.) We presume the examiner means that the
claim does not specify what the tickets are exchanged for, and therefore may be
exchanged for cash, i.e. a sale. We agree that the claim is sufficiently broad to
encompass this construction in that the specification states that “tickets may be
exchanged for consideration other than other electronic tickets, including money
. . .” (Spec 8). Therefore, we find the appellants’ arguments to be unpersuasive.
The appellants argue that Nakfoor does not allow exchange after the event
starts, as their invention does.
Furthermore, unlike the Nakfoor method, the method of the present
invention is capable of operating after the ticketed event has begun.
For example, the specification of the patent application states "The
facility operator may use the access points to communicate
information to the virtual ticket devices about available seating
upgrades. These could be based on the real time location of the
customer. For example, an access point may transmit to the virtual
ticket device the message: 'Two seats are available in the section in
front of you. Would you like to move there for an additional $10?'"
(Specification, Page l6, Lines 10-16).
The Nakfoor method ceases to operate after the ticket buyer enters the
event.
(Br. 9).
This argument fails to address any limitation in this claim. We note that there
is no temporal attribute within the claim limitation that narrows the time span
during which such patrons must be associated with a public-facility, nor is there
any spatial attribute requiring such patrons to be within a public-facility. By way
of analogy, we note that many public television patrons never set foot in a public
television station or appear on public television. We note, in particular, that the
very act of obtaining tickets for a public-facility venue is sufficient to characterize
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