Appeal 2007-1315
Application 09/828,437
1 The Appellants separately argue claims 4 and 16 together, which call for name,
2 date, location, and guest quantity travel parameters, and for children in hotel room
3 restriction information in the printed listing.
4 The Examiner found that Jones discloses travel parameters including
5 accommodation name, arrival date, departure date, departure location, and number
6 of guests. The Examiner further found that such an indication of whether children
7 are allowed was non-functional descriptive data and that this descriptive data
8 would not distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art in terms of
9 patentability. The Examiner further found the notoriety of travel services
10 providing all pertinent information, which would include any restriction regarding
11 children. (Answer 13-14).
12 The Appellants contend that the combination of Jones and Among fails to
13 disclose the claim feature of the listing providing information relating to whether
14 children are allowed at the named accommodation, as admitted by the Examiner.
15 The Appellants also take issue with the Examiner’s finding that the travel
16 parameter of whether children are allowed is determined to be non-functional
17 descriptive data, not functionally related to the steps or method. (Br. 29-30).
18 As we concluded above, no patentable weight is afforded the contents of the
19 listing, and so these limitations will not define the claims over the art applied. But
20 even were patentable weight given to these nonfunctional descriptive material
21 limitations, Jones states that information about the hotel is provided (FF 07). One
22 of ordinary skill could implement this by providing all relevant information,
23 including all restrictions, and particularly including any regarding children, as a
24 predictable variation, and would see the benefit of doing so, to properly inform
25 travelers. As to the travel parameters recited in claim 16, these are typical of the
25
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