"Home" is a Matter of Geography, Not Substance

In re Margolin, [07-1056](June 15, 2007)[NEWMAN, Schall, Dyk] The Federal Circuit affirmed the rejection of Margolin's claims 1-5 on a method of distributed computing as being anticipated.
BRIEF: LOF: Whether a claim is anticipated and what a reference teaches are questions of fact. The Federal Circuit said that it had to uphold the BPAI's factual findings if the findings are supported by substantial evidence in the record before the Board. The Federal Circuit said "A claim is anticipated under 35 U.S.C. 102 when the same invention, including all of the claimed limitations, appears in a single reference." Margolin tried to distinguish the claimed invention as relating to a home network, but the Federal Circuit found this a mere question of geography, not a structural limitation. The Federal Circuit found the BPAI's construction of the claim reasonable, and finding substantial evidence that the claimed invention was disclosed in a single reference, affirmed the anticipation rejection.