Appeal No. 1997-2593
Application No. 08/160,290
463 (CCPA 1976). Indeed, appellants’ specification indicates
that their composition may contain other solvents such as
methyl ethyl ketone. See the specification at page 10, lines
8-13. Moreover, appellants have cited no controlling legal
authority, and we know of none, which holds that the claim
language "consisting essentially of" operates to exclude
"main" components which otherwise do not materially affect the
novel and basic characteristics of a composition. Here,
appellants have provided no objective evidence showing that
the amounts of these "main" solvents in Liu’s solvent blend
would materially affect the basic characteristics of
appellants’ composition.
Appellants’ counsel emphasizes in the brief that the use
of the recited mixed solvent blend in the claimed composition
results in "unexpected advantageous properties" with regard to
depth of focus, profile and resolution properties. Such
properties are said to be significant when appellants’
composition is used as a positive resist in the production of
integrated circuits with a high integration level. See the
brief at pages 8 and 9. Comparative experimental test results
are shown in the Table at pages 13-18 of appellants’
7
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