Appeal 2007-0518
Application 90/006,969
25. The Examiner responded and argued that:
Beamer discloses that the tax preparation software, e.g.,
MacInTax, can electronically connect to and download relevant
financial information from a bank via a home accounting program,
e.g., Dollars & Sense (¶¶ 3, 4, 6, 15, 16, 23, 26). This downloaded
information is used to assist in completing one’s tax return.
Completion of an IRS tax return is expressly disclosed by Beamer;
therefore, by using data downloaded from a bank to complete the IRS
tax form, said data qualifies as tax data since it provides information
that is required to complete one’s tax return. Beamer ultimately
utilizes the downloaded bank statement information to electronically
prepare a tax return, thereby addressing both the spirit and literal
interpretation of the claimed invention. Furthermore, Patent Owner’s
independent claims recite “collecting electronically tax data from said
tax data provider.” Since the collected tax data is not referred to as
“said tax data,” it is not necessarily required that the collected tax data
be the type of tax data expressly recited as possessed by the tax data
provider. (Answer at 28-29).
26. The Simplification Specification gives examples of the type of
data that is considered “tax data” as follows:
This information [data needed to compute the tax payer’s liability]
includes: IRS Forms W-2 from their employers; IRS Forms 1099 from
their banks; each mutual fund in which interests are held, each broker
in respect of dividends, interest and gross brokerage proceeds, and
other persons from whom payments are received; IRS Forms 1098 in
respect of residential mortgage interest paid; and canceled checks or
other acknowledgments from charitable organizations (‘787, col.
2:19-28).
Obviousness rejection
27. The Examiner rejected independent claims 15, 33 and 36, along
with several dependent claims based on Beamer and further supported by
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