Appeal No. 96-1249
Application 08/270,215
purpose in a transparent electroconductive laminate used in a
touch panel.
Furthermore, even assuming for the sake of argument that
Mikoshiba would have been understood as teaching the use of a
metal or metal oxide layer in a transparent electroconductive
laminate in a touch panel, it would have been considered
applicable to a matrix touch panel rather than to an analog
touch panel. The reason is that Mikoshiba does not describe
the metal or metal oxide layer as being noncontinuous, as it
must be to avoid interfering with the resistance function
provided by the transparent semiconductive layer in an analog
touch panel, a function not provided by the transparent
semiconductive layer in a matrix touch panel. The examiner's
contention (Answer at 4) that Mikoshiba's metal layer, which
is disclosed as having a thickness in the range of more than
0.5 D and less than 20 D (col. 9, lines 23-24), is a non-
continuous film appears to be based on the fact that this
range falls within appellants' disclosed thickness range of 5
D to 70 D, which is described as forming islands rather than a
continuous film (Spec. at 8, lines 10-12). However, it is not
permissible to use appellants' own disclosure to prove an
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