Appeal No. 1998-1568
Application No. 08/336,352
respective positions. This review leads us to conclude that
the examiner has not established a prima facie case of
obviousness regarding the claimed subject matter for
essentially those reasons set forth at pages 3 and 4 of the
Brief. We only add that none of the applied prior art
references alone, or in combination, teaches or suggests using
a non-oxidizing atmosphere or vacuum to enhance the stability
and the shelf life of a strong oxidizing etching solution,
much less the claimed Caro's acid (H SO ). Jayawant, the best
2 5
secondary reference relied upon by the examiner, for example,
only teaches introducing SO into a reactor with a suitable
3
inert gas, such as nitrogen, oxygen, air or their mixtures.
See column 3, lines 39-47 and column 6, lines 5-25. There is
no teaching or suggestion that nitrogen, oxygen, air or
mixtures thereof will enhance the stability and the shelf life
of a strong oxidizing etching solution, much less Caro's acid.
See Jayawant in its entirety.
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