Appeal No. 2000-0708
Application No. 08/873,973
thereof fail to teach the claimed first outer conductive plane.
The examiner counters (Answer, page 4) by restating a portion of
the rejection, "Frankeny clearly discloses a printed circuit
board and an electronic assembly having all of the features
claimed except for the use of solder mask." The examiner fails
to provide any specific citations in either Frankeny or Lin
showing the claimed conductive plane, and yet concludes that the
claimed element is "clearly disclose[d]" by Frankeny. Such an
answer, merely restating the rejection with no evidence to
support the statement, is an inadequate response to appellant's
argument.
We find no conductive plane in Frankeny. As indicated by
appellant (Brief, page 8), both Frankeny and Lin disclose
"individual discrete surface pads," not a conductive plane.
Specifically, Frankeny shows in Figures 2, 3, and 7, an
insulative body 4 with dendrite plated vias/pads 6 which are all
isolated from one another, and Lin discloses (column 4, lines 23-
27, and column 4, line 55-column 5, line 23) connecting the
electronic component 18 to a land arrangement, land layout, or
land configuration on the surface of the PCB. Nowhere does
Frankeny or Lin teach or suggest forming a conductive plane on
the surface of the printed circuit board. Therefore, the
examiner has failed to establish a prima facie case of
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