Ex Parte Firminger et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardOct 9, 201512592541 (P.T.A.B. Oct. 9, 2015) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 12/592,541 11/25/2009 Shawn P. Firminger SE1-1017-US 1557 80118 7590 10/13/2015 Constellation Law Group, PLLC P.O. Box 580 Tracyton, WA 98393 EXAMINER BURGESS, JOSEPH D ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3626 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 10/13/2015 PAPER Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________________ Ex parte SHAWN P. FIRMINGER, JASON GARMS, RODERICK A. HYDE, EDWARD K.Y. JUNG, CHRIS DEMETRIOS KARKANIAS, ERIC C. LEUTHARDT, ROYCE A. LEVIEN, RICHARD T. LORD, ROBERT W. LORD, MARK A. MALAMUD, JOHN D. RINALDO JR., CLARENCE T. TEGREENE, KRISTIN M. TOLLE, and LOWELL L. WOOD JR. ____________________ Appeal 2013-0014011 Application 12/592,5412 Technology Center 3600 ____________________ Before NINA L. MEDLOCK, BRUCE T. WIEDER, and TARA L. HUTCHINGS, Administrative Patent Judges. MEDLOCK, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL 1 Our decision references Appellants’ Appeal Brief (“App. Br.,” filed August 15, 2012), Reply Brief (“Reply Br.,” filed October 30, 2012), and Supplemental Reply Brief (“Supp. Reply Br.,” filed October 30, 2012), and the Examiner’s Answer (“Ans.,” mailed August 31, 2012) and Final Office Action (“Final Act.,” mailed March 15, 2012). 2 Appellants identify Searete LLC as the real party in interest. App. Br. 5. Appeal 2013-001401 Application 12/592,541 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s final rejection of claims 141–202. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We AFFIRM. CLAIMED INVENTION Appellants’ claimed invention “relates to data capture and data handling techniques” (Spec. 7). Claim 141, reproduced below, is the sole independent claim, and is representative of the subject matter on appeal: 141. A system comprising: an accepter module configured to accept an indication of at least one health-related status of an individual; a determiner module configured to determine a plurality of health service options for the individual at least partially based on accepting the indication of at least one health-related status of the individual, where the determiner module includes a microprocessor; and a solicitor module configured for soliciting advertising for at least one selected health service option. REJECTIONS3 Claims 141–145, 147–165, 167–171, 173–175, 178–186, 188, and 190–202 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai (US 6,807,531 B1, iss. Oct. 19, 2004) and Eaton (US 2006/0136264 A1, pub. June 22, 2006). 3 The provisional rejection of claims 141, 142, 147, 149, 150, 153, 157, 159–163, 169–176, 178–180, 185, 190, 193, 194, 198, and 201 on the ground of non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting is moot in view of the August 4, 2015 abandonment of Application Serial No. 12/592,439. Appeal 2013-001401 Application 12/592,541 3 Claims 146 and 189 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai, Eaton, and Henley (US 2002/0065758 A1, pub. May 30, 2002). Claims 166 and 187 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai, Eaton, and Boerger (US 2007/0271119 A1, pub. Nov. 22, 2007). Claims 172, 176, and 177 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai, Eaton, and Thomas (US 2004/0015337 A1, pub. Jan. 22, 2004). ANALYSIS Obviousness Independent claim 141 Appellants variously argue that the rejection of independent claim 141 should be reversed because the Examiner has failed to establish a prima facie case of unpatentability (App. Br. 46–74). More particularly, Appellants argue that a prima case of unpatentability has not been established because the USPTO-cited technical material fails to recite several express terms of independent claim 141, and the USPTO has not explained how it reached the mappings of the claim onto the cited prior art under a broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with Appellants’ Specification (id. at 46–49). Appellants assert that although the USPTO characterizes Kanai as disclosing certain limitations of independent claim 141, the Office fails to support its characterization with “objectively verifiable evidence” (id. at 55), and Appellants have “shown by direct quotations” that independent claim 141 and Kanai are “very different on Appeal 2013-001401 Application 12/592,541 4 their faces” (id. at 56). Appellants maintain that Appellants’ application is the only “objectively verifiable USPTO-cited document of record that shows or suggests what the USPTO purports the references to disclose” (id. at 57– 58), and “that the USPTO is interpreting Kanai through the lens of Appellant’s [sic] application, which is impermissible hindsight use” (id. at 58). Appellants also charge that the USPTO is improperly relying on personal knowledge and/or is taking official notice of one or more factors to reach the factual conclusion of what the cited technical material discloses, and that the USPTO should be required to provide an affidavit or declaration setting forth objectively verifiable evidence in support of the USPTO’s assertions regarding what the cited technical material discloses and/or should be interpreted to teach (id.). Appellants make similar arguments with respect to Eaton (id. at 58–65). Appellants’ arguments are unpersuasive. The Federal Circuit has held that the USPTO carries its procedural burden of establishing a prima facie case when its rejection satisfies the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 132 by notifying the applicant of the reasons for rejection, “together with such information and references as may be useful in judging of the propriety of continuing the prosecution of [the] application.” See In re Jung, 637 F.3d 1356, 1362 (Fed. Cir. 2011). Thus, “all that is required of the office to meet its prima facie burden of production is to set forth the statutory basis of the rejection and the reference or references relied upon in a sufficiently articulate and informative manner as to meet the notice requirement of § 132.” Id. at 1363. Appeal 2013-001401 Application 12/592,541 5 Here, the Examiner notified Appellants that claim 141 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious over the combination of Kanai and Eaton, and the Examiner cited specific portions of the references, by column and line (Kanai) and paragraph (Eaton) numbers, that are the bases for the rejection (Final Act. 4–5). The cited portions of the references, and the accompanying explanations provided by the Examiner, collectively constitute the “objectively verifiable evidence,” which Appellants allege is lacking. Moreover, and contrary to Appellants’ suggestion that identity of terminology is required, the Examiner does not contend, nor is the Examiner required to demonstrate, that the identical text of rejected claim 141 appears in the cited references. The test of whether a reference teaches a claim limitation is not whether the exact language is present. Instead, the relevant inquiry is whether the limitation is taught or suggested by the prior art when the claim is given its broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the Specification. Cf. In re Bond, 910 F.2d 831, 832–33 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (interpretation of references “is not an ‘ipsissimis verbis” test” (citing Akzo N.V. v. U.S. Int’l Trade Comm’n, 808 F.2d 1471, 1479 & n.11 (Fed. Cir. 1986))); Standard Havens Prods., Inc. v. Gencor Indus., Inc., 953 F.2d 1360, 1369 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (“[A] . . . reference . . . need not duplicate word for word what is in the claims.”). We find that the Examiner’s rejection satisfies the notice requirement of § 132, and, therefore, establishes a prima facie case of obviousness. Cf. Jung, 637 F.3d at 1363 (“[T]he examiner’s discussion of the theory of invalidity . . . the prior art basis for the rejection . . . and the identification of where each limitation of the rejected claims is shown in the prior art Appeal 2013-001401 Application 12/592,541 6 reference by specific column and line number was more than sufficient to meet this burden.”). Therefore, the burden shifts to Appellants to rebut the Examiner’s prima facie case by distinctly and specifically pointing out the supposed errors in the Examiner’s action, as well as the specific distinctions believed to render the claims patentable over the applied references. See 37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(vii) (2011) (“A statement which merely points out what a claim recites will not be considered an argument for separate patentability of the claim.”); see also In re Lovin, 652 F.3d 1349, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (“[W]e hold that the Board reasonably interpreted Rule 41.37 to require more substantive arguments in an appeal brief than a mere recitation of the claim elements and a naked assertion that the corresponding elements were not found in the prior art.”). Appellants have failed to carry their burden. Rather than distinctly pointing out the Examiner’s supposed errors, Appellants have made mere general allegations that the claims define a patentable invention because the Examiner has failed to establish a prima facie case of unpatentability, without specifically articulating what gaps exist between the cited references and the claims. For example, although Appellants charge the Examiner with improper reliance on hindsight, personal knowledge, or improper reliance on official notice, Appellants do not provide persuasive arguments or evidence to support that charge. Appellants’ objection to the Examiner’s technical explanation of how the claim is obvious in view of the prior art, and their demand for “an affidavit or declaration setting forth objectively verifiable evidence in support of the USPTO’s currently unsupported assertions regarding what the cited technical material ‘discloses’ and/or should be interpreted to ‘disclose’” (see, e.g., App. Br. 58), also lack technical Appeal 2013-001401 Application 12/592,541 7 explanation of what the error is. Appellants also do not specifically identify (except by quoting the entirety of the claim) the several “express terms” of claim 141 that the “USPTO-cited technical material” allegedly fails to recite. Appellants’ further argument that the Examiner has provided conclusory statements only, and has failed to provide articulated reasoning with some rational underpinning to support the obviousness conclusion (App. Br. 65–67 (citing KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398 (2007))) also begs the question of whether any differences exist, and fails to address the Examiner’s stated rationale for combining the references. Appellants’ contentions that combining the references, as the Examiner proposes, would change the principle of operation of one or both of Kanai and Eaton, would render the technologies of Kanai and/or Eaton unfit for their intended purposes, and would require substantial reconstruction and redesign of the elements of Kanai (App. Br. 67–74) similarly fail at least because they appear based on bodily incorporation, which is not the test for obviousness. See In re Sneed, 710 F.2d 1544, 1550 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (“[I]t is not necessary that the inventions of the references be physically combinable to render obvious the invention under review.”); In re Nievelt, 482 F.2d 965 (CCPA 1973) (“Combining the teachings of references does not involve an ability to combine their specific structures.”). Viewed as a whole, Appellants’ arguments amount to a recitation of the claim language, and a quotation of the Examiner’s statement of the rejection followed by a quotation of each of the cited portions of the prior art references, from which Appellants summarily conclude that the quoted language of the references does not meet the quoted claim language. Other than seeking direct quotations of identical terminology, Appellants have not Appeal 2013-001401 Application 12/592,541 8 identified error in the Examiner’s interpretations of the cited references or the claim language. Appellants may well disagree with how the Examiner interpreted and applied the references, but Appellants offer no substantive arguments to rebut the specific underlying factual findings made by the Examiner in support of the ultimate legal conclusion of obviousness. And we decline to examine the claims sua sponte, looking for distinctions over the prior art. Cf. In re Baxter Travenol Labs., 952 F.2d 388, 391 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (“It is not the function of this court to examine the claims in greater detail than argued by an appellant, looking for [patentable] distinctions over the prior art.”). In the absence of a more detailed explanation, we are not persuaded of error on the part of the Examiner. See Jung, 637 F.3d. at 1365 (“[I]t has long been the Board’s practice to require an applicant to identify the alleged error in the examiner's rejections,” citing Ex Parte Frye, 94 USPQ2d 1072 (BPAI 2010) (precedential) (“The panel then reviews the obviousness rejection for error based upon the issues identified by appellant, and in light of the arguments and evidence produced thereon.”)). Therefore, we sustain the Examiner’s rejection of claim 141 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a). For the same reasons, we also sustain the Examiner’s rejections of dependent claims 142–146, 148, 150–164, and 166–202, which are not argued separately except based on their dependence on claim 141 (App. Br. 74). Dependent claims 147, 149, and 165 Appellants argue that dependent claims 147, 149, and 165 are independently patentable (App. Br. 74–82). Yet Appellants’ arguments Appeal 2013-001401 Application 12/592,541 9 amount to a recitation of the claim language followed by a quotation of the cited portions of Kanai and/or Eaton, from which Appellants summarily conclude that a prima facie case of unpatentability has not been made. Other than seeking direct quotations of identical terminology, Appellants have not identified error in the Examiner’s interpretations of cited references or the claim language. Based on the record and arguments before us, we are not persuaded that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 147, 149, and 165 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a). Therefore, we sustain the Examiner’s rejection. DECISION The Examiner’s rejections of claims 141–202 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) are affirmed. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1)(iv). AFFIRMED em Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation