Appeal No. 2002-1228 Page 4
Application No. 09/124,831
ordinary skill in the art to utilize the White method to mount an electrode assembly on a
plasma etching device in view of the admission made by the appellants in the AAPA
that it was “old and notoriously well known in the art to mount and align an electrode
assembly to a plasma etching apparatus, visually” (Answer, page 4). The examiner,
although apparently feeling compelled to cite the AAPA in order to support the rejection,
opined that the electrode assembly and the plasma etching apparatus were “intended
use limitations and are not deemed to patentably further limit the claimed mounting and
alignment process” (Answer, page 3). The appellants argue that the preambles cannot
be discarded in evaluating the patentability of the claims, that White is not analogous
art, and that even if it were considered to be so, there would have been no suggestion
to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the references in such a manner as to meet
the terms of the claims in the absence of hindsight.
Independent claim 18 sets forth “[a] method of mounting an electrode assembly
on a plasma etching apparatus” comprising “placing alignment pins inserted in
apertures in said plasma etching apparatus through corresponding apertures in said
electrode assembly.” Independent claim 1 sets forth this method in somewhat different
terms, and adds the step of replacing each of the alignment pins with a fastener.
White is directed to joining the flanged ends of pipe together under water. The
method disclosed comprises initially installing upon the flange of a first pipe a plurality
of flange stabilizing elements (10, 12) extending outwardly from the periphery of the
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