Ex Parte Bates et al

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Nov 17, 2010

10671407 (B.P.A.I. Nov. 17, 2010)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
____________

BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
____________

Ex parte CARY LEE BATES and PAUL W. BUENGER
____________

Appeal 2009-005539
Application 10/671,407
Technology Center 2100
____________

Before JAMES D. THOMAS, LANCE L. BARRY, and JAMES R.
HUGHES, Administrative Patent Judges.

BARRY, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL1

1 The two-month time period for filing an appeal or commencing a civil
action, as recited in 37 C.F.R. § 1.304, or for filing a request for rehearing,
as recited in 37 C.F.R. § 41.52, begins to run from the "MAIL DATE"
(paper delivery mode) or the "NOTIFICATION DATE" (electronic delivery
mode) shown on the PTOL-90A cover letter attached to this decision.
Appeal 2009-005539
Application 10/671,407

2
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The Patent Examiner rejected claims 1-3, 6-9, and 11-20. The
Appellants appeal therefrom under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a). We have jurisdiction
under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).

INVENTION
The Appellants describe the invention at issue on appeal as follows.
A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium are
provided that in an embodiment verify that if a selected first link in a
first page points to a reciprocal site, then a reciprocal link in a
reciprocal page points back to the first page. The verification is
performed by finding the reciprocal page and searching it for the
reciprocal link. If the reciprocal link does not exist, then in various
embodiments, the first link is removed or is removed after a time
period has elapsed or a number of times has been exceeded, or a
user is warned of the lack of the reciprocal link. In this way,
reciprocal links are tracked to verify that the first page is receiving the
agreed-upon links.

(Spec. ¶ 0008.)

ILLUSTRATIVE CLAIM
1. A method comprising:
receiving an edit reciprocal link option and a
selected section of a first page from a user interface;
adding at least one reciprocal tag to the first page
based on the edit reciprocal link option and the selected
section of the first page, wherein a first link to a
reciprocal site is in the selected section, and wherein the
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Application 10/671,407

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at least one reciprocal tag identifies the selected section
that includes the first link;
finding the at least one reciprocal tag in the first
page;
finding a reciprocal page based on the at least one
reciprocal tag, wherein the reciprocal page is at the
reciprocal site, wherein the finding further comprises
finding a record based on the reciprocal tag that identifies
the reciprocal page;
determining whether a reciprocal link exists in the
reciprocal page to the first page; and if the reciprocal link
does not exist, determining an action based on a user-
interface option.

REJECTION
Claims 1-3, 6-9, and 11-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
being unpatentable over Axandra et al., Arelis Online User Guide (May
2003) ("Axandra") and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/
0083093 A1 ("Goodisman").

ISSUE
The issue before us is whether the Examiner erred in finding that
Axandra discloses that a selected section of a page includes a link to a
reciprocal site and that a reciprocal tag identifies the selected section that
includes the link, as required by independent claims 1, 6, 11, and 16.

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Application 10/671,407

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FINDINGS OF FACT
Axandra includes the following description.
ARELIS needs a dummy web page to create a link page
template for you. It's very easy to create such a dummy Web
page: Step 1: Open one of your current Web pages in your
favorite HTML editor . . . Step 2: Remove the body text
from your Web page so that only the navigation elements
remain . . . Step 3: Enter ##LINKS## at the place where
you want the links to appear. Save that page under a new
name and you're done. Open this dummy Web page in
ARELIS when the link page template wizard asks for it.
(p. 78.)
Goodisman includes the following description.
[T]he methods and systems can utilize the links to modify a
document having at least one object, where based on the
association or link, an object in a document can be replaced
with an abbreviated form of the object. A switch, button, or
other capability to toggle can allow a selection and/or display of
the abbreviated document and the unabbreviated version.
(Abstract)

ANALYSIS
"In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, the examiner bears the
initial burden of presenting a prima facie case of obviousness." In re
Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531, 1532 (Fed. Cir. 1993) (citing In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d
1443, 1445 (Fed. Cir. 1992)). "'A prima facie case of obviousness is
established when the teachings from the prior art itself would appear to have
suggested the claimed subject matter to a person of ordinary skill in the art.'"
In re Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 783 (Fed. Cir. 1993) (quoting In re Rinehart, 531
F.2d 1048, 1051 (CCPA 1976)).
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Application 10/671,407

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The Examiner makes the following findings.
Axandra teaches a mechanism to describe links . . . . If it's an
anchor tag but called a reciprocal tag then Axandra clearly
speaks to adding anchor tags by using the constructs of HTML
4.0 and the fragment identifier ##, which indicates the use of an
anchor tag. As the user places the ##LINKS## on the page,
they are adding anchor tags.
(Ans. 15.) Upon reviewing Axandra, we are unpersuaded that it includes a
"first link to a reciprocal site." We are also unpersuaded that Axandra's
keyword "##LINKS##" "identifies the selected section." More specifically,
we agree with the Appellants' following argument:
The Axandra keyword "##LINKS##" does not "[identify] the
selected section," as recited in claim 1, and Axandra (sic)
"dummy web page" never includes "a first link to a reciprocal
site," as recited in claim 1. Instead, the Axandra keyword
"##LINKS##" is at a location in the "dummy web page" that
represents a location in a "link page", which Axandra will later
create and later add links to, as described in Axandra at page 78
and 87.
(App. Br. 20-21.)
The Examiner explains that "[t]he teachings of Goodisman were relied
upon to teach the limitation of adding a reciprocal tag to a page. . . ." (Ans.
15.) The Examiner does not allege, let alone show, however, that the
addition of Goodisman cures the aforementioned deficiency of Axandra.
Absent a teaching or suggestion of a "first link to a reciprocal site"
and a reciprocal tag that "identifies the selected section," we are
unpersuaded of a prima facie case of obviousness. Therefore, we conclude
that the Examiner erred in finding that Axandra discloses that a selected
section of a page includes a link to a reciprocal site and that a reciprocal tag
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identifies the selected section that includes the link, as required by
independent claims 1, 6, 11, and 16.

DECISION
We reverse the rejection of independent claims 1, 6, 11, and 16 and of
claims 2, 3, 7-9, 12-15, and 17-20 which depend therefrom.
REVERSED

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