Appeal No. 2001-0687
Application No. 09/080,070
reference teaching the coating of the balls after attachment to
the package, there is no teaching in any of the references
relating “to the coating of the balls and the leads after
securing the balls to the leads. In other words, the claims
require securing of the balls to the leads and then coating of
the balls and the leads in a single step.”
While the simultaneous coating of the leads and the balls
after the balls are secured to the package may not be taught by
the references, contrary to what appellants’ argument may
indicate, instant claim 1 does not require the coating of the
balls and the leads “in a single step.” Rather, the claim
requires, after providing the partially fabricated package, “then
coating said leads and said balls with palladium.” While this
claim language certainly requires the coating of both the leads
and the balls with a palladium coating, it does not require that
the coating be performed in a single step. Therefore, we need
not address the obviousness of coating these elements in a single
step because such is not a limitation of the claim and
appellants’ argument is not commensurate in scope with the claim
language.
Since the applied references, in combination, clearly
suggest coating the leads and the balls, after securing the balls
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