Appeal No. 2005-2558
Application No. 10/408,149
conductive adhesive is in an uncured or partially cured state, to
allow for testing and repair that can be performed at all stages
prior to final and complete curing. See column 3, at lines 35-39
of Schar. Answer, page 4. On page 5 of the answer, the examiner
states that Schar is silent regarding the step of partially
curing the adhesive after mounting the second substrate. The
examiner refers to Mase for teaching this aspect of the claimed
invention.
Beginning on page 8 of the reply brief, appellants argue
that because Schar teaches that Schars’ invention provides for
easy and flexible testing during all stages of assembly, there
would be no reason to modify Schar according to Mase because
Schar does not need such modification to achieve flexible testing
during all stages of assembly. We are not convinced by this
argument for the following reasons.
Schar teaches that the conductive adhesive can be partially
cured and the second substrate is attached. See column 3, lines
35-39. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that
this could be achieved by applying the conductive adhesive in an
uncured state, followed by a step of partially curing the
conductive adhesive, followed by attachment of the second
substrate. Alternatively, this could be achieved by applying the
conductive adhesive in an uncured state, attaching the second
substrate, and then partially curing the conductive adhesive. We
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