Appeal No. 2005-1354
Application No. 09/940,481
Board in the prior appeal, and appellants have not presented new
evidence with the current appeal.
As explained in the prior decision, Inoue, like appellants,
discloses an iron alloy for forming a shadow mask comprising
nickel, silicon, carbon and sulfur in the presently claimed
amounts. While the alloy of Inoue does not comprise cobalt, we
are convinced that Fukuda, Kato and Ishikawa establish the
obviousness of incorporating cobalt into the iron alloy of Inoue.
For instance, Fukuda, as noted by the examiner, teaches an
iron/nickel alloy for making a shadow mask and expressly teaches
that the presence of cobalt "well upgrades its etching
adaptability" (column 2, lines 53-54). Also, Kato specifically
discloses that "[p]resence of Co in the alloy composition assures
easy pore formation via etching" (column 2, lines 46-47), and
Ishikawa teaches that "Co has an effect to broaden the range of
low expansion coefficient" (column 3, lines 24-25). Accordingly,
we find that the prior art provides ample motivation for adding
cobalt to the iron alloy of Inoue.
Appellants submit that Fukuda "states that alloys containing
less than 0.1% Mn are not desirable and would not provide the
physical characteristics desired of the alloy or articles derived
from the alloy [whereas] [i]n the presently claimed invention the
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