Appeal No. 2000-0422
Application 08/864,044
suggested the claimed subject matter to one of ordinary skill in
the art (see In re Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 783, 26 USPQ2d 1529, 1531
(Fed. Cir. 1993)).
In the present case, we have reviewed the portion of
Kukanskis that the examiner has referred to. We find that
Kukanskis is primarily devoted to improving the characteristics
of a copper surface for better adhesion of the subsequent
coatings applied thereto. Kukanskis does mention, as the
Examiner suggests, that a plurality of the copper plates with the
coatings are subsequently pressed together to create laminates
for printed circuits, however, we agree with Appellants that
Kukanskis is directed to the art of applying a photoresist to an
underlying substrate and forming electrical circuitry by
photoresist and selective etching techniques. We find that
Kukanskis is not directed to the bonding of a substrate having
printed circuits to a rigid conductor substrate using a bonding
adhesive film in between the two as recited in Appellants’
claim 1. Therefore, we conclude that there is no suggestion in
the prior art to combine the references as suggested by the
Examiner. Our conclusion is consistent with the guidelines of
the Federal circuit which state that “[the] mere fact that the
prior art may be modified in the manner suggested by the Examiner
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