Appeal No. 2006-0977
Application 10/250,605
by appellants. Accordingly, we will adopt the examiner’s reasoning
as our own in sustaining the rejections of record, and we add the
following for emphasis only.
There is no dispute that Japanese ‘306, like appellants,
discloses an epoxy resin composition for semiconductor encapsulation
which comprises a biphenol epoxy resin, a hardener blend of a phenol
hardener and a thiodiphenol hardener, such as bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)
sulfide recited in appellants’ claim 5, a polyhydric phenol like the
claimed phenol aralkyl resin, an inorganic filler and a curing
accelerator. The only deficiency of Japanese ‘306 with respect to
the components of the claimed epoxy resin composition is that the
reference does not expressly disclose the claimed 3,3',5,5'-tetra-
methyl-4,4'-biphenol epoxy resin. However, as acknowledged by
appellants, Japanese ‘306 “states that all epoxy resins may be used
in its composition and lists several examples which include ‘... a
bis-hydroxy biphenyl, its alkylation object’” (page 4 of brief, last
paragraph). Accordingly, since Japanese ‘349 admittedly discloses
an epoxy resin composition for semiconductor encapsulation that
includes the presently claimed 3,3',5,5'-tetramethyl-4,4'-biphenol
epoxy resin, we have no doubt that one of ordinary skill in the art
would have found it obvious to select the particular biphenol epoxy
resin disclosed by Japanese ‘349 as the biphenol epoxy resin for the
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