Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vu (US 20150231507) in view of Baldwin (US 20200222815)
In claims 1, 13, and 19, Vu discloses
Drafting a roster of players to form a first fantasy team, wherein said drafting includes using data driven projections with personalized adjustments to create said fantasy team, and further wherein said data driven projections are selected from the group consisting of a player projection, a past performance, and a ranking (paragraph 43 discloses data driven projections, and paragraph 44 discloses that the draft manager which governs the draft strategy is based on the player ranks. With respect to “personalized adjustments”, this appears to be particular rules governing the particular game, and this is taught by paragraph 38. However, under an alternative reading wherein “personalized adjustments” are meant to be user personalized modifications/manual adjustments to the rankings, Paragraphs 9, 10, 61 discloses that a user may manually override to change the decisions of a given team, thus allowing for personalization)
Managing said roster of players (paragraph 61)
Applying said past performance of a most recent game to said data driven projection, wherein a plurality of points are accumulated from categories selected from the group consisting of an offense, a kicking, a defense and a miscellaneous (paragraph 9, “the statistics data includes past and present performance data on the players”. Paragraph 34 discloses offensive, defensive, and miscellaneous scoring, such as points scored, field goal percentage, blocks, and rebounds. It is noted by examiner that this is a Markush group and thus only one of these is required)
Vu fails to discloses accumulating points for said offense from the group consisting of passing yards, passing touchdowns, passing interceptions, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, fumbles lost, receptions, passing yards, said rushing yards, said rushing touchdowns, said receptions, said receiving yards, and said 2 points conversions include positive points and said interceptions and said fumbles include negative points, however Baldwin discloses accumulating points for said offense from the group consisting of passing yards, passing touchdowns, passing interceptions, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, fumbles lost, receptions, passing yards, said rushing yards, said rushing touchdowns, said receptions, said receiving yards, and said 2 points conversions include positive points and said interceptions and said fumbles include negative points (table 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Vu with Baldwin in order to provide a particular scoring format for fantasy football which increases the enjoyment of the league.
In claims 13 (as well as dependent claims 7, 8, and 20), Vu further discloses adjusting said roster of players at predetermined time intervals to form at least a second fantasy team during a season of play, wherein said adjusting said roster of players includes removing players from said first fantasy team and adding other players to form said at least second fantasy team and maximizing a total point score of said roster of players (paragraph 23 “daily line-up setting strategy)
In claims 13 (as well as dependent claims 5 and 20), Vu further discloses said personalized adjustments selected from the group consisting of a group consisting of a number of players for said first fantasy team and at least second fantasy team (paragraph 38)
In claim 19 (as well as dependent claims 9, 10, and 17), Baldwin discloses accumulating points for said kicking selected from the group consisting of varying points for field goals made and missed at varying lengths, and points for PATs made and missed (table 1)
In claim 19 (as well as dependent claims 11 and 18), Baldwin discloses accumulating points for said defense selected from the group consisting of defensive touchdowns, two point returns, safeties, sacks, interceptions, forced fumbles, fumbles recovered, blocked kicks, points allowed, and total yards allowed (table 2)
In claim 19 (as well as dependent claim 12), Baldwin further discloses accumulating points for said miscellaneous selected from the group consisting of kickoff return touchdowns, punt return touchdowns, fumbles recovered for touchdowns, interception returns for touchdown, fumbles returned for touchdown, blocked kick returned for touchdown, two point return, safety, kickoff return total yards, and punt return total yards (tables 1 and 2)
In Claim 2, Vu discloses said data driven projections are selected from the group consisting of an authorized source of football organizations (paragraph 34 discloses a live statistical feed, it is noted by examiner that this is a Markush group, and this only 1 needs to be found, further the BRI of “authorized source of football organizations” is broad, as there is no particulars as to who or what “authorized” the source)
In claim 3, Vu discloses said roster of players selected from the group consisting of NFL players to fill different positions for said fantasy team (paragraph 34)
In claims 4 and 20, Vu discloses said positions selected from the group consisting of one or more of a quarterback, a running back, a wide receiver, a tight end, a kicker, a flex player, and a defensive player (paragraph 34 discloses the wide receiver Michael Crabtree. it is noted by examiner that this is a Markush group, and this only 1 needs to be found)
In claim 14), Baldwin discloses points accumulated for said passing offense includes points for passing yards, passing touchdowns, two point passing conversions, and interceptions thrown, and further wherein said passing yards, said passing touchdowns, said receptions, said receiving yards, and said two point passing conversions include positive points and said interceptions thrown include negative points (table 1)
In claim 15, Baldwin discloses points accumulated for said rushing offense include points for rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, two point rushing conversions and fumbles, and further wherein said rushing yards, said rushing touchdowns and said two point rushing conversions include positive points and said fumbles include negative points (table 1)
In claim 16, Baldwin discloses points accumulated for said receiving offense includes points for receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and two point receiving conversions, and further wherein said receiving yards, said receiving touchdowns and said two point conversions include positive points (table 1)
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vu in view of Baldwin in view of Ford (US 20150273345).
In claim 6, Vu in view of Baldwin discloses the claimed invention except a total salary cost limit of said roster of players of said first fantasy team and said at least second fantasy team, however Ford discloses a total salary cost limit of said roster of players of said first fantasy team and said at least second fantasy team (paragraph 141). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Vu in view of Baldwin with Ford in order to allow for the invention of Vu and Baldwin to be used with a wider variety of fantasy sports rules including salary cap rules
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS HAYNES HENRY whose telephone number is (571)270-3905. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6.
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/THOMAS H HENRY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715