Saul ELBAUMDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardJan 13, 20212020002352 (P.T.A.B. Jan. 13, 2021) 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. 15/948,447 04/09/2018 Saul ELBAUM 0509.0001CON 3042 27896 7590 01/13/2021 EDELL, SHAPIRO & FINNAN, LLC 9801 Washingtonian Blvd. Suite 750 Gaithersburg, MD 20878 EXAMINER EZEWOKO, MICHAEL I ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3682 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 01/13/2021 ELECTRONIC 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. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): epatent@usiplaw.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte SAUL ELBAUM ____________ Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,4471 Technology Center 3600 ____________ Before ANTON W. FETTING, JOSEPH A. FISCHETTI, and NINA L. MEDLOCK, Administrative Patent Judges. FETTING, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL 1 Oral arguments were presented Dec. 10, 2020. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE2 Saul Elbaum (Appellant3) seeks review under 35 U.S.C. § 134 of a final rejection of claims 48–57, the only claims pending in the application on appeal. We have jurisdiction over the appeal pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). The Appellant invented a way of enabling the sale of products or services on the internet using retail locations. Specification 1:3–4. An understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading of exemplary claim 48, which is reproduced below. 48. A method of selling non-stocked items in addition to stocked items in a traditional walk-in store comprising: a) providing the store with photos of items which are available for sale on the internet but not stocked in the store; b) providing the store with website addresses of the sellers of the non-stocked items:, c) providing visitors to the store with discount codes associated with the non-stocked items, said discount codes applicable to purchases made directly from the sellers; 2 Our decision will make reference to the Appellant’s Appeal Brief (“Appeal Br.,” filed November 7, 2019) and Reply Brief (“Reply Br.,” filed January 31, 2020), and the Examiner’s Answer (“Ans.,” mailed December 30, 2019), and Final Action (“Final Act.,” mailed June 25, 2019). 3 We use the word “Appellant” to refer to “applicant” as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 1.42. Appellant identifies the real party in interest as the inventor Saul Elbaum (Appeal Br. 1). Appellant as inventor identifies himself as a Registered Patent Attorney. Appeal Br. 17. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 3 d) enabling the sellers of said non-stocked items to recognize when a purchase is made with one of said discount codes, e) enabling the sellers of the non-stocked items to identify the walk--in store in which the non-stocked items were displayed; and f) paying a finder's fee from each seller of a non-stocked item to the store. The Examiner relies upon the following prior art: Name Reference Date Aihara US 2013/0132173 A1 May 23, 2013 Wedderburn US 2015/0127438 A1 May 7, 2015 Claims 48–57 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as directed to a judicial exception without significantly more. Claims 48–57 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Wedderburn and Aihara. ISSUES The issues of eligible subject matter turn primarily on whether the claims recite more than abstract conceptual advice of results desired. The issues of obviousness turn primarily on whether the art describes paying a finder’s fee from each seller of a non-stocked item to the store. FACTS PERTINENT TO THE ISSUES The following enumerated Findings of Fact (FF) are believed to be supported by a preponderance of the evidence. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 4 Facts Related to the Prior Art Wedderburn 01. Wedderburn is directed to managing a retail affiliate network. Wedderburn para. 2. 02. Wedderburn describes managing retail transactions between at least one manufacturer and/or merchant of a product or service and at least one retail affiliate having a physical space for showcasing the product or service; wherein managing retail transactions includes: providing at least one promotional material to the at least one retail affiliate, for promoting the product or service in the physical space of the at least one retail affiliate; providing affiliate-specific data to each of the at least one retail affiliates for communication to one or more consumers, the affiliate-specific data being unique to each of the at least one retail affiliates and usable by the one or more consumers for online purchase of the product or service; tracking online purchase of the product or service by the one or more consumers, and attributing the online purchase as a referral by a particular one of the at least one retail affiliates, using the affiliate-specific data; and managing transfer of compensation from the at least one manufacturer and/or merchant to the particular one retail affiliate, as a result of the tracked online purchase. Wedderburn para. 5. 03. Wedderburn describes a manufacturer merchant promoting its products through a network of independent retailers. Wedderburn para. 50. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 5 Aihara 04. Aihara is directed to a mobile shopping system in which a mobile device, such as a mobile phone or a smartphone, repeatedly performs the operation of scanning a barcode or IC chip of an item tag for an item to be purchased and acquiring item information to create shopping information, and sends the shopping information to a shopping-payment management system to complete payment. Aihara para. 2. 05. Aihara describes a mobile device, such as a mobile telephone or a smartphone, repeatedly (without communication with an external server) scanning a two-dimensional barcode or IC chip of an item tag for an item to be purchased and acquiring item information to create shopping information, and sending the shopping information to a payment system using a mobile telephone network only at the time of payment. Aihara para. 31. 06. Aihara describes an item tag management system that creates the item tag for each item sold at the store. The item information acquired contains a manufacturer name, an item name, an item code, a price, additional information, a store code, and valid conditions. Aihara para. 135. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 6 ANALYSIS Claims 48–57 rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as directed to a judicial exception without significantly more STEP 14 Claim 48, as a method claim, nominally recites one of the enumerated categories of eligible subject matter in 35 U.S.C. § 101. The issue before us is whether it is directed to a judicial exception without significantly more. STEP 2 The Supreme Court set forth a framework for distinguishing patents that claim laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas from those that claim patent-eligible applications of those concepts. First, . . . determine whether the claims at issue are directed to one of those patent-ineligible concepts. If so, we then ask, “[w]hat else is there in the claims before us? To answer that question, . . . consider the elements of each claim both individually and “as an ordered combination” to determine whether the additional elements “transform the nature of the claim” into a patent- eligible application. [The Court] described step two of this analysis as a search for an “‘inventive concept’”—i.e., an element or combination of elements that is “sufficient to ensure that the patent in practice amounts to significantly more than a patent upon the [ineligible concept] itself.” Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208, 217–18 (2014) (citations omitted) (citing Mayo Collaborative Servs. v. Prometheus Labs, Inc., 566 U.S. 66 (2012)). To perform this test, we must first determine what the claims are directed to. This begins by determining whether the claims recite 4 For continuity of analysis, we adopt the steps nomenclature from the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, 84 Fed. Reg. 50 (Jan. 7, 2019) (“Revised Guidance”). Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 7 one of the judicial exceptions (a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea). Then, if the claims recite a judicial exception, determining whether the claims at issue are directed to the recited judicial exception, or whether the recited judicial exception is integrated into a practical application of that exception, i.e., that the claims “apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception, such that the claim is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the judicial exception.” Revised Guidance, 84 Fed. Reg. at 54. If the claims are directed to a judicial exception, then finally determining whether the claims provide an inventive concept because the additional elements recited in the claims provide significantly more than the recited judicial exception. STEP 2A Prong 1 At a high level, and for our preliminary analysis, we note that method claim 48 recites providing photo, web address, and discount code data, enabling purchase and store identifier recognition, and paying a fee. Providing data is storing data. Enabling recognition of data and events is rudimentary data analysis and reception. Paying a fee is data processing. Thus, claim 48 recites storing, receiving, analyzing, and processing data. None of the limitations recites technological implementation details for any of these steps, but instead recite only results desired by any and all possible means. From this we see that claim 48 does not recite the judicial exceptions of either natural phenomena or laws of nature. Under Supreme Court precedent, claims directed purely to an abstract idea are patent ineligible. As set forth in the Revised Guidance, which Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 8 extracts and synthesizes key concepts identified by the courts, abstract ideas include (1) mathematical concepts,5 (2) certain methods of organizing human activity,6 and (3) mental processes.7 Among those certain methods of organizing human activity listed in the Revised Guidance are commercial or legal interactions. Like those concepts, claim 48 recites the concept of managing sales transaction activity. Specifically, claim 48 recites operations that would ordinarily take place in advising one to pay a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers. The advice to pay a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers involves paying a finder’s fee, which is an economic act, and making a purchase, which is an act ordinarily performed in the stream of commerce. For example, claim 48 recites “paying a finder’s fee,” which is an activity that would take place whenever one is paying such a fee for a sales transaction. Similarly, claim 1 recites “a purchase is made,” which is also characteristic of sales transactions. The Examiner determines the claims to be directed to sales activities or behaviors. Final Act. 2. The preamble to claim 48 recites that it is a 5 See, e.g., Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U.S. 63, 71–72 (1972); Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 593, 611 (2010); Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co. v. Radio Corp. of Am., 306 U.S. 86, 94 (1939); SAP Am., Inc. v. InvestPic, LLC, 898 F.3d 1161, 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2018). 6 See, e.g., Bilski, 561 U.S. at 628; Alice, 573 U.S. at 219-20; Ultramercial, Inc. v. Hulu, LLC, 772 F.3d 709, 715 (Fed Cir. 2014); Smart Sys. Innovations, LLC v. Chicago Transit Auth., 873 F.3d 1364, 1383 (Fed. Cir. 2017); In re Marco Guldenaar Holding B.V., 911 F.3d 1157, 1160–61 (Fed. Cir. 2018). 7 See, e.g., Benson, 409 U.S. at 67; CyberSource Corp. v. Retail Decisions, Inc., 654 F.3d 1366, 1371–72 (Fed. Cir. 2011); Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Symantec Corp., 838 F.3d 1307, 1318 (Fed. Cir. 2016). Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 9 method of selling non-stocked items in addition to stocked items in a traditional walk-in store. The steps in claim 48 result in managing sales transaction activity by paying a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers absent any technological mechanism other than a conventional computer for doing so. As to the specific limitations, limitations a–c recite storing data. Limitations d–f recite generic and conventional receiving, analyzing, and processing of sales and product data, which advise one to apply generic functions to get to these results. The limitations thus recite advice for paying a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers. To advocate paying a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers is conceptual advice for results desired and not technological operations. The Specification at 1:3–4 describes the invention as relating to enabling the sale of products or services on the internet using retail locations. Thus, all this intrinsic evidence shows that claim 48 recites managing sales transaction activity. This is consistent with the Examiner’s determination. This in turn is an example of commercial or legal interactions as a certain method of organizing human activity because managing sales activity is a commercial interaction. The concept of managing sales transaction activity by paying a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers is one idea for coordinating interactions for multi-vendor sales. The steps recited in claim 48 are part of how this might conceptually be premised. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 10 Our reviewing court has found claims to be directed to abstract ideas when they recited similar subject matter. Content Extraction & Transmission LLC v. Wells Fargo Bank, Nat’l Ass’n, 776 F.3d 1343, 1347 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (drawn to the abstract idea of 1) collecting data, 2) recognizing certain data within the collected data set, and 3) storing that recognized data in a memory.) Alternately, this is an example of concepts performed in the human mind as mental processes because the steps of storing, receiving, analyzing, and processing data mimic human thought processes of observation, evaluation, judgment, and opinion, perhaps with paper and pencil, where the data interpretation is perceptible only in the human mind. See In re TLI Commc’ns LLC Patent Litig., 823 F.3d 607, 611 (Fed. Cir. 2016); FairWarning IP, LLC v. Iatric Sys., Inc., 839 F.3d 1089, 1093–94 (Fed. Cir. 2016). Claim 48, unlike the claims found non-abstract in prior cases, uses generic computer technology to perform data storage, reception, analysis, and processing and does not recite an improvement to a particular computer technology. See, e.g., McRO, Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games Am. Inc., 837 F.3d 1299, 1314–15 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (finding claims not abstract because they “focused on a specific asserted improvement in computer animation”). As such, claim 48 recites storing, receiving, analyzing, and processing data, and not a technological implementation or application of that idea. From this we conclude that at least to this degree, claim 48 recites managing sales transaction activity by paying a finder’s fee for sales of non- stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers, which is a commercial Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 11 and legal interaction, one of certain methods of organizing human activity identified in the Revised Guidance, and, thus, an abstract idea. STEP 2A Prong 2 The next issue is whether claim 48 not only recites, but is more precisely directed to this concept itself or whether it is instead directed to some technological implementation or application of, or improvement to, this concept, i.e., integrated into a practical application.8 At the same time, we tread carefully in construing this exclusionary principle lest it swallow all of patent law. At some level, “all inventions ... embody, use, reflect, rest upon, or apply laws of nature, natural phenomena, or abstract ideas.” Thus, an invention is not rendered ineligible for patent simply because it involves an abstract concept. “[A]pplication[s]” of such concepts “ ‘to a new and useful end,’ ” we have said, remain eligible for patent protection. Accordingly, in applying the § 101 exception, we must distinguish between patents that claim the “ ‘buildin[g] block[s]’ ” of human ingenuity and those that integrate the building blocks into something more. Alice, 573 U.S. at 217 (citations omitted). Taking the claim elements separately, the operation performed by the computer at each step of the process is expressed purely in terms of results, devoid of implementation details. Steps a–c are pure data storage steps. Limitations describing the nature of the data do not alter this. Steps d–f recite generic computer processing expressed in terms of results desired by any and all possible means and so present no more than conceptual advice. All purported inventive aspects reside in how the data are interpreted and the results desired, and not in how the process physically enforces such a data 8 See, e.g., Alice, 573 U.S. at 223, discussing Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U.S. 175 (1981). Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 12 interpretation or in how the processing technologically achieves those results. Viewed as a whole, Appellant’s claim 48 simply recites the concept of managing sales transaction activity by paying a finder’s fee for sales of non- stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers as performed by a generic computer. This is no more than conceptual advice on the parameters for this concept and the generic computer processes necessary to process those parameters, and do not recite any particular implementation. Claim 48 does not, for example, purport to improve the functioning of the computer itself. Nor does it effect an improvement in any other technology or technical field. The 6+ pages of specification do not bulge with disclosure, but only spell out different generic equipment9 and parameters that might be applied using this concept and the particular steps such conventional processing would entail based on the concept of managing sales transaction activity by paying a finder’s fee for sales of non- stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers under different scenarios. They do not describe any particular improvement in the manner a computer functions. Instead, claim 48 at issue amounts to nothing significantly more than an instruction to apply managing sales transaction activity by paying a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers using some unspecified, generic computer. Under our precedents, that is not enough to transform an abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention. See Alice, 573 U.S. at 225–26. 9 The Specification describes a computer as a device comprised of central processing unit, main internal memory, output module, and input module. Spec. 4:16–18. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 13 None of the limitations reflects an improvement in the functioning of a computer, or an improvement to other technology or technical field, applies or uses a judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition, implements a judicial exception with, or uses a judicial exception in conjunction with, a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim, effects a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, or applies or uses the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception. We conclude that claim 48 is directed to achieving the result of managing sales transaction activity by advising one to pay a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers, as distinguished from a technological improvement for achieving or applying that result. This amounts to commercial or legal interactions, which fall within certain methods of organizing human activity that constitute abstract ideas. The claim does not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. STEP 2B The next issue is whether claim 48 provides an inventive concept because the additional elements recited in the claim provide significantly more than the recited judicial exception. The introduction of a computer into the claims does not generally alter the analysis at Mayo step two. the mere recitation of a generic computer cannot transform a patent-ineligible abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 14 Stating an abstract idea “while adding the words ‘apply it’” is not enough for patent eligibility. Nor is limiting the use of an abstract idea “‘to a particular technological environment.’” Stating an abstract idea while adding the words “apply it with a computer” simply combines those two steps, with the same deficient result. Thus, if a patent’s recitation of a computer amounts to a mere instruction to “implement[t]” an abstract idea “on . . . a computer,” that addition cannot impart patent eligibility. This conclusion accords with the preemption concern that undergirds our § 101 jurisprudence. Given the ubiquity of computers, wholly generic computer implementation is not generally the sort of “additional feature[e]” that provides any “practical assurance that the process is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the [abstract idea] itself.” Alice, 573 U.S. at 223–24 (citations omitted). “[T]he relevant question is whether the claims here do more than simply instruct the practitioner to implement the abstract idea [] on a generic computer.” Alice, 573 U.S. at 225. They do not. Taking the claim elements separately, the function performed by the computer at each step of the process is purely conventional. Using a computer for storing, receiving, analyzing, and processing data amounts to electronic data query and retrieval—one of the most basic functions of a computer. All of these computer functions are generic, routine, conventional computer activities that are performed only for their conventional uses. See Elec. Power Grp. LLC v. Alstom S.A., 830 F.3d 1350, 1353 (Fed. Cir. 2016). See also In re Katz Interactive Call Processing Patent Litig., 639 F.3d 1303, 1316 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (“Absent a possible narrower construction of the terms ‘processing,’ ‘receiving,’ and ‘storing,’ . . . those functions can be achieved by any general purpose computer without special programming”). None of these activities is used in some unconventional manner nor does any produce Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 15 some unexpected result. Appellant does not contend it invented any of these activities. In short, each step does no more than require a generic computer to perform generic computer functions. As to the data operated upon, “even if a process of collecting and analyzing information is ‘limited to particular content’ or a particular ‘source,’ that limitation does not make the collection and analysis other than abstract.” SAP Am., 898 F.3d at 1168. Considered as an ordered combination, the computer components of Appellant’s claim 48 add nothing that is not already present when the steps are considered separately. The sequence of data storage- reception-analysis- processing is equally generic and conventional. See Ultramercial, Inc. v. Hulu, LLC, 772 F.3d 709, 715 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (sequence of receiving, selecting, offering for exchange, display, allowing access, and receiving payment recited an abstraction), Inventor Holdings, LLC v. Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc., 876 F.3d 1372, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (sequence of data retrieval, analysis, modification, generation, display, and transmission), Two-Way Media Ltd. v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, 874 F.3d 1329, 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (sequence of processing, routing, controlling, and monitoring). The ordering of the steps is therefore ordinary and conventional. We conclude that claim 48 does not provide an inventive concept because the additional elements recited in the claim do not provide significantly more than the recited judicial exception. REMAINING CLAIMS Claim 48 is representative. The other independent method claims 52 and 58 are substantially similar at least as regards this analysis. The remaining method claims merely describe process parameters. We conclude Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 16 that the method claims at issue are directed to a patent-ineligible concept itself, and not to the practical application of that concept. There are no structural claims. As a corollary, the claims are not directed to any particular machine. LEGAL CONCLUSION From these determinations we further determine that the claims do not recite an improvement to the functioning of the computer itself or to any other technology or technical field, a particular machine, a particular transformation, or other meaningful limitations. From this we conclude the claims are directed to the judicial exception of the abstract idea of certain methods of organizing human activity as exemplified by the commercial and legal interaction of managing sales transaction activity by advising one to pay a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers, without significantly more. APPELLANT’S ARGUMENTS As to Appellant’s Appeal Brief arguments, we adopt the Examiner’s determinations and analysis from Final Action 2–4 and Answer 6–9 and reach similar legal conclusions. As Appellant does not respond further in the Reply Brief, we note the following as to the Appeal Brief arguments. We are not persuaded by Appellant's argument that “[t]he 2019 Guidance lists three groupings of abstract ideas: mathematical concepts, certain methods of organizing human activity, and mental processes. These claims do not fall within any of these groupings.” Appeal Br. 11. The claims recite a conceptual idea for selling goods. Such sales activities are commercial activities, which are among certain methods of organizing human activity. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 17 We are not persuaded by Appellant's argument that “[a]ll of these methods contribute to a practical application.” Appeal Br. 12. All of the steps are conventional selling process steps. The only recitation of computer elements is for the conventional purpose of those elements. As we determine above, the claims are directed to achieving the result of managing sales transaction activity by advising one to pay a finder’s fee for sales of non-stocked items based on sending item codes to sellers, as distinguished from a technological improvement for achieving or applying that result. This amounts to commercial or legal interactions, which fall within certain methods of organizing human activity that constitute abstract ideas. We are not persuaded by Appellant's argument that “these claims recite a great improvement - a walk-in retail store that competes with the internet.” Id. Utility of an abstract idea is insufficient to confer eligibility. “That the automation can ‘result in life altering consequences,’ is laudable, but it does not render it any less abstract.” Univ. of Fla. Research Found., Inc. v. Gen. Elec. Co., 916 F.3d 1363, 1369 (Fed. Cir. 2019). Claims 48–57 rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Wedderburn and Aihara We are persuaded by Appellant’s argument that The fundamental difference between Wedderburn and applicant’s invention is that Wedderburn requires the use and expense of a third party, the RNA, between the buyer and the seller. By eliminating the third party, applicant’s invention is able to give a discount to the buyer and pay a fee to the store. Appeal Br. 14. For example, limitation (f) recites paying a fee from each seller to the store. Wedderburn introduces a third party instead. The Examiner does not respond to this particular argument. Appeal 2020-002352 Application 15/948,447 18 CONCLUSIONS OF LAW The rejection of claims 48–57 under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as directed to a judicial exception without significantly more is proper. The rejection of claims 48–57 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Wedderburn and Aihara is improper. CONCLUSION The rejection of claims 48–57 is affirmed. In summary: Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § Basis Affirmed Reversed 48–57 101 Eligibility 48–57 48–57 103 Wedderburn Aihara 48–57 Overall Outcome 48–57 No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). See 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1)(iv) (2011). AFFIRMED Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation