From: "Richard Hong" 

Randy,

The saying was always that "a prosecutor can get a grand jury to
indict a ham sandwich."  I think we now have a new saying: a patent
attorney can get the USPTO to grant a patent on a ham sandwich.  There have
been SO many questionable patents issued lately it's unreal.

But as for the "novel" aspect, what appears to be the central
claim isn't the barcoding, but the application to sales verification.

Rich

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5