Section 12 - Notice and Related Documentary Record

Section 11 examined the Microsoft Gesture Coach prosecution itself. This section isolates the related records of filing, service and delivery so that their evidential role remains clear. These documents establish particular procedural events and communications without requiring the archive to infer what recipients subsequently thought or did.

At this stage of FINALSTEP, the documentary record increasingly speaks for itself. The purpose of the commentary is therefore limited: identify the document, place it in chronological context, explain what it objectively records, and preserve the original evidence separately for examination.

12.1 Commercial Delivery Records - 2010

FedEx records preserved in the archive document delivery of packages to the Microsoft Licensing Department in Redmond, Washington and to the Electronic Arts Licensing Department in Redwood City, California on 29 October 2010.

The records document delivery to the Microsoft Licensing Department in Redmond, Washington and the Electronic Arts Licensing Department in Redwood City. The complete carrier records, including recipient-identifying details and signatures, are retained privately.

Historical significance: These are independent carrier records showing that packages addressed to the identified corporate recipients were delivered. They are useful because they establish a documentary event independently of later recollection.
Evidence limit: The delivery records establish delivery. They do not establish what material was reviewed after receipt, who reviewed it, what conclusions were reached, or what action was taken as a result.

12.2 Rule 99 Submission Package - February 2011

The complete Rule 99 filing package provides the formal bridge between earlier commercial notice activity and the USPTO prosecution record examined in Section 11.

The package includes a USPTO filing receipt bearing a 1 February 2011 date stamp, a transmittal identifying the third-party submission, a PTO-1449, supporting publications, proof of service, the filing fee, the Rule 99 submission signed by Charles K. Friedman, and a Certificate of Service upon Microsoft's attorneys.

The PTO-1449 identifies Baker patent material including U.S. Patent 5,486,001, Australian Patent Application 19259/92 and WO92/21412, together with supporting publications.

Historical significance: The filing package records what was formally submitted to the USPTO and confirms receipt by the Office. It is primary evidence of the procedural step itself.

12.3 Certificate of Service on Microsoft's Patent Counsel

The Rule 99 procedure required service of the submission upon the patent applicant. The surviving filing package contains the Certificate of Service identifying Microsoft's patent counsel.

This record should be read together with the independent postal receipt described below. The certificate records the act of service from the sender's side; the return receipt independently records delivery to the addressee.

12.4 Certified Mail Return Receipt - February 2011

A United States Postal Service Certified Mail Return Receipt documents delivery of the Rule 99 submission to Microsoft's patent attorneys.

The receipt records delivery to Microsoft's patent counsel in Philadelphia. It includes certified-mail tracking information, a recipient signature, a delivery date of 9 February 2011 and a received stamp dated 11 February 2011. The complete receipt, including recipient-identifying details and signature, is retained privately.

Historical significance: The postal record independently confirms that the Rule 99 submission was not only filed with the USPTO but was also delivered to the patent counsel identified on the receipt.

12.5 Documentary Chain

Read chronologically, the principal notice and service records establish a sequence of independently documented events:

29-10-2010 FedEx delivery to Microsoft Licensing 29-10-2010 FedEx delivery to Electronic Arts Licensing 01-02-2011 Rule 99 package received by USPTO February 2011 Certificate of Service on Microsoft's patent counsel 09-02-2011 Certified-mail delivery to Microsoft's patent counsel 11-02-2011 Return receipt bears received stamp Thereafter Gesture Coach prosecution continues through Office Actions, amendments, allowance and issue

This chronology is significant because different documents independently record different steps. Carrier records document commercial delivery. USPTO records document filing. The Certificate of Service and postal receipt document service upon patent counsel. The prosecution file then records what happened within the Patent Office.

12.6 What the Notice Record Does and Does Not Establish

The archive preserves these records because they help establish when identified communications and procedural steps occurred. Their strongest evidential value comes from their limited and objective nature.

None of these records, standing alone, establishes infringement, patent validity, the recipient's state of mind, or the legal effect of notice. Those questions belong to the later patent and litigation record.

Editorial principle: FINALSTEP distinguishes proof that a document was delivered from any later argument about what legal significance should be attached to that delivery.

12.7 Relationship to the Gesture Coach Prosecution

Section 11 and Section 12 should be read together but serve different purposes.

Section 11 follows the official prosecution: Rule 99 material, Office Actions, Microsoft's responses and amendments, the Reasons for Allowance, the Notice of Allowance and the later PTO-1449 citation record.

Section 12 preserves the surrounding filing, service and delivery evidence. Separating these functions prevents procedural proof from being confused with substantive patent analysis.

12.8 Transition to Demonstrative Evidence

The archive now moves from patent records, notice and prosecution documents to a different form of historical material: public demonstrations of the commercial technologies themselves.

Section 13 brings together Project Natal, Kinect, Ubisoft and related demonstrations so readers can see the systems operating rather than relying only upon written descriptions. The demonstrations are preserved as evidence of what the products publicly showed and did; any infringement contention remains separately identified as a litigation position.

Evidence note: The Section 12 evidence set contains three source files. The official Rule 99 filing package remains publicly linked. The FedEx delivery records and certified-mail return receipt are retained in the private FINALSTEP archive because they contain recipient-identifying details and signatures; the public page preserves the historically relevant delivery facts and dates.

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