Appeal No. 95-3460
Application No. 08/042,303
Absent from Sirinyan is any teaching of a sulfonic acid
anionic surfactant as recited in claim 1. Thus, Sirinyan cannot
anticipate claims 1, 2, 4 to 6, 8, 14, 16 and 17, since Sirinyan
does not meet every element of the claimed invention. Hybritech
Inc. v. Monoclonal Antibodies, Inc., 802 F.2d 1367, 1379, 231
USPQ 81, 90 (Fed. Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 947 (1987).
Moreover, as argued by appellants, Sirinyan requires a chemical
reaction between the activator compound and the sulfonic acid
surfactant, whereas appellants' process does not.
With respect to claim 3, we do not agree with the
examiner that one skilled in the art would have found it obvious
to use n-alkylarylsulfonic acid, as recited in claim 3, in lieu
of the organometallic compounds disclosed in Sirinyan. The
examiner has the burden to show the equivalence of the
organometallic compound containing sulfonic acid groups with 2
n-alkylarylsulfonic acid in the electroless metallization process
2Sirinyan, column 2, lines 10 to 14 and 30 to 32, teaches
the use of an organometallic compound of the group 8 of the
Period Systems of Elements with the organo portion selected from
sulphonic acid groups, sulphonic acid halide groups and sulphonic
acid ester groups.
-3-
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007