Appeal No. 1997-2919
Application No. 08/573,921
(claim 7; col. 2, l. 23-25) as being beneficial in that they
promote adhesion between a substrate and a subsequently
applied palladium-based catalyst or metal layer.
With regard to the applicability of Gulla, Bach and
Lombardo, appellants argue that those references relate only
to organic substrates rather than glass substrates. This
argument is unconvincing since all of the applied references
appear to be reasonably pertinent to the field of appellants’
process and that of Schnur. In this regard, all of the
applied references relate to electroless metal deposition
processes involving prior activation of the substrate with a
palladium-based catalyst. The teachings of Gulla, Bach and
Lombardo appear to generically apply to any substrate involved
in such processes. For instance, in Gulla, organic (epoxy)
substrates are mentioned only by way of example. There is
nothing to indicate that Gulla’s teachings are limited to
organic substrates. More to the point, Bach (col. 4, l. 66-
col. 5, l. 4; col. 11, l. 57-60) clearly indicates that, in
general, “any number of different types of non-conductive
substrates” are considered to be within this field of
endeavor, either “organic or inorganic” substrates.
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