Appeal No. 2002-1025 Page 5
Application No. 09/454,354
is, treat them prior to their initial use, but periodically removes them from service during
use for cleaning and subsequent return to service.
Like the appellants, Duescher preconditions abrasive disks (pads) in order to
reduce the height of defect spots or areas that can scratch the workpiece. To do so,
[a] hard material can be held stationary against the disk surface
(particularly at an edge) or the hard material may be oscillated slowly and
radially to knock off or wear down high spots. Another abrasive material
could be rotated with its own high (or slow) velocity against the surface of
the abrasive disk to remove high spots or loose materials. Any loose or
weak abrasive materials at the inner and outer radius of the disk would be
broken loose by this initial conditioning treatment and would be eliminated
from the system prior to actual lapping of the work piece (column 39, lines
48-60).
From our perspective, Duescher would have instructed one of ordinary skill in the
art to precondition the Brunelli pads by placing them in contact with a hard or abrasive
material to remove high spots or loose materials prior to being placed in service. We
fail to perceive any teaching, suggestion or incentive in either reference which would
have led one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the Brunelli method in the manner
proposed by the examiner, that is, to precondition the pad by the thermal means
Brunelli utilizes to remove waste from the planarizing operation which accumulates on
the pad during use. It appears to us that suggestion for such a modification is found
only in the hindsight afforded one who first viewed the appellants’ disclosure which, of
course, is not a proper basis for a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103. In re Fritch,
972 F.2d 1260, 1264, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1784 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
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