DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed July 22nd, 2025 has been entered. Claims 2 and 11 have been
cancelled. Claims 1, 3-10, and 12-16 remain pending in the application. The claim objection set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed April 22nd, 2025 has been withdrawn.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 7/21/2025, 11/26/2025, and 1/22/2025 were filed after the mailing date of the Non-Final Office Action on 4/22/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 3-10, 12-13, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over Thomas G. Decker et al. (US 5799549 A – hereinafter Decker) in view of Sawada Koji
(JP H05115633 A – hereinafter Koji) and Oliver H. Claus et al. (WO 2010008980 A1 – hereinafter Claus).
Regarding claim 1, Decker teaches a razor blade (Fig. 2, Blade Member 44) comprising:
a substrate (Fig. 3, Stainless Steel Body Portion 50) having a tip portion (Fig. 3, Tip Portion 52);
a hard coating layer (Fig. 3, Layer 60) deposited on the substrate, a material deposited in one or
more monolayers (Fig. 3, Adherent Telomer Layer 72; Col. 4, lines 47-49) on an outer bonding
surface of the hard coating; wherein the hard coating layer has an aspect ratio of (a) to (b) of at
least 1.5:1 (Fig. 3; Col. 4, lines 40-46), wherein (a) is a first distance from a tip defined by the
hard coating layer to the tip portion of the substrate, and (b) is a second distance from an outer surface of the hard coating layer to an underlying surface of the substrate (Fig. 3, Col. 2, lines
28-34).
Decker fails to teach that the material deposited in one or more monolayers is a non-
fluorinated organic material, the non-fluorinated organic material comprising an organosilane, and wherein the non-fluorinated organic coating comprises a thickness of less than 500 Angstroms.
However, Koji further teaches a coating for a razor blade which comprises a non-fluorinated organic material which is an organosilane (Page 3, para 7).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
filing to modify the material deposited in one or more monolayers on an outer bonding surface of
the hard coating of Decker to be a non-fluorinated organic material, specifically an organosilane, as taught by Koji. Doing so provides the benefit of preventing shavings from attaching to the blade, therefore preventing a loss of cutting quality and avoiding the generation of a bad smell (Koji, Abstract).
Additionally, Claus teaches a coating layer which comprises a thickness of less than 500 Angstroms (Fig. 2, Outer Layer 40; Page 4, para 2 – layer can be as thin as 100 Angstroms).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
filing to modify the thickness of the organosilane coating monolayer of the combination of
Decker and Koji to be less than 500 Angstroms as taught by Claus. Doing so is beneficial as
reduced coating thickness can provide improved first shave results (Claus, Page 4, para 2).
Regarding claim 3, the existing combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus already teaches the razor blade of claim 1, wherein the organosilane is derived from bis(trimethylsilyl)amine (Koji; Page 3, para 7 – it is well known in the art that bis(trimethylsilyl)amine and hexamethyldisilazane refer to the same chemical compound).
Regarding claim 4, the existing combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus already teaches the razor blade of claim 1, wherein the organosilane is derived from hexamethyldisiloxane (Page 3, para 7).
Regarding claim 5, Decker further teaches the razor blade of claim 1, wherein the aspect ratio is at least 3.5:1 (Col. 3, lines 37-38).
Regarding claim 6, Decker further teaches the razor blade of claim 1, wherein the aspect ratio is between 2:1 and 4:1 (Col. 3, lines 37-38). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the aspect ratio of Decker to be between 1.5:1 and 2.5:1 as claimed as applicant appears to have placed no criticality on the claimed range (Specification of the claimed invention, page 16 para 2) and since it has been held that “[i]n the case where the claimed ranges ‘overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art’ a prima facie case of obviousness exists.” In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990).
Regarding claim 7, the existing combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus fails to teach the razor blade of claim 1, wherein an outer shape of the non-fluorinated organic coating is the same as an outer shape of the tip portion.
However, Claus teaches the razor blade of claim 1, wherein an outer shape of the
outermost layer of coating (Fig. 2, Outer Layer 40) is the same as an outer shape of the tip
portion (Fig. 2, top half of Substrate 11 in Fig. 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the outer shape of the non-fluorinated organic coating of the combination of
Decker, Koji, and Claus to be the same as an outer shape of the tip portion as taught by Claus as a change in form or shape is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art, absent any showing of unexpected results In re Dailey et al., 149 USPQ 47.
Regarding claim 8, the existing combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus fails to teach the razor blade of claim 1, comprising at least one of a thickness of between about 1.3 and 2.0 micrometers measured at a distance of four micrometers from a sharpened tip of the substrate, a thickness of between about 2.3 and 3.5 micrometers measured at a distance of eight micrometers from the sharpened tip, a thickness of between about 3.8 and 6.4 micrometers measured at a distance of sixteen micrometers from the sharpened tip, a thickness of between about 9.3 and 16.2 micrometers measured at a distance of forty micrometers back from the sharpened tip, a ratio of thickness measured at four micrometers to the thickness measured at eight micrometers of at least 0.55 and a ratio of thickness measured at four micrometers to the thickness measured at sixteen micrometers of at least 0.28.
However, Claus teaches a thickness of between about 1.3 and 1.6 micrometers measured
at a distance of four micrometers from a sharpened tip of the substrate, a thickness of between
about 2.2 and 2.7 micrometers measured at a distance of eight micrometers from the sharpened
tip, a thickness of between about 3.8 and 4.9 micrometers measured at a distance of sixteen
micrometers from the sharpened tip, a ratio of thickness measured at four micrometers to the
thickness measured at eight micrometers of at least 0.55 and a ratio of thickness measured at four micrometers to the thickness measured at sixteen micrometers of at least 0.30 (Fig. 1; Page 4,
Detailed Description para 1-2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
filing to modify the thicknesses and ratios of thicknesses of the combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus to be those of Claus. It would have also been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the thicknesses and ranges of thicknesses of the combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus to be those of the claimed range as a matter of routine optimization since it has been held that “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955). The thicknesses and ratios of thicknesses are disclosed to be result effective variables as they need to be optimized to provide a balance between edge strength and low cutting force (Claus; Page 2, Detailed Description para 3), therefore changing the thickness and ratios of thicknesses involves only adjusting the dimension of a component disclosed to require adjustment.
Regarding claim 9, Decker further teaches the razor blade of claim 1, wherein the razor blade further comprises a body portion (Fig. 3, the portion of Stainless Steel Body Portion 50 that is below Tip Portion 52 in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 10, Decker further teaches the razor blade of claim 9, wherein the non-fluorinated organic coating material (Fig. 3, Adherent Telomer Layer 72) is deposited on the tip portion (Fig. 3, Tip Portion 52) and at least a section of the body portion (Fig. 3, the portion of Stainless Steel Body Portion 50 that is below Tip Portion 52 in Fig. 3; it can be seen in Fig. 3 that the coating extends downwards from the tip portion to also cover the body portion).
Regarding claim 12, the existing combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus fails to teach the razor blade of claim 1, wherein the non-fluorinated organic coating comprises a thickness of less than 100 Angstroms.
However, Claus teaches wherein the outermost layer comprises a thickness as thin as 100
Angstroms (Fig. 2, Outer Layer 40; Page 4, para 2 – layer can be as thin as 100 Angstroms).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
filing to modify the thickness of the non-fluorinated organic coating of the combination of
Decker and Koji to be as thin as 100 Angstroms as taught by Claus. It would have also been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the thickness of the
combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus to be less than 100 Angstroms as a matter of routine
optimization since it has been held that “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in
the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine
experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955). The
thickness of the outer layer is disclosed to be a result effective variable as it need to be optimized
to improve first shave results (Claus, Page 4, para 2), therefore changing the thickness and ratios
of thicknesses involves only adjusting the dimension of a component disclosed to require adjustment.
Regarding claim 13, Decker further teaches the razor blade of claim 1, wherein the non-fluorinated organic coating (Fig. 3, Adherent Telomer Layer 72) has a surface energy of less than 33 dynes/cm (Col. 6, lines 4-6 – PTFE is used as a coating. It is well known in the art that PTFE has a surface energy of about 19 dynes/cm, which is less than 33 dynes/cm).
Regarding claim 16, the existing combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus fails to teach the razor blade of claim 1, further comprising at least one additional layer of material disposed between the hard coating layer and the non-fluorinated organic coating material, wherein at least one additional layer of material comprises one or more of: (i) diamond, amorphous diamond, or diamond-like-carbon (DLC); or (ii) chromium, platinum, boron, chromium diboride, tin, titanium, titanium diboride, vanadium, aluminum, silicon, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, hafnium, tantalum, tungsten, zirconium, molybdenum, or niobium, and oxides, nitrides, and oxynitrides thereof.
However, Claus teaches at least one additional layer of material disposed between the
hard coating layer and the outermost layer, wherein at least one additional layer of material
comprises a chromium containing material (Fig. 2, Overcoat Layer 38; Page 4 para 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
filing to modify the razor blade of the combination of Decker and Koji to comprise at least one
additional layer of material disposed between the hard coating layer and the non-fluorinated
organic coating material comprising the claimed materials as taught by Claus. The additional
layer is beneficial as it facilitates bonding between the hard coating layer and the outermost layer
(Claus, Page 4 para 1).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomas G.
Decker et al. (US 5799549 A – hereinafter Decker) in view of Sawada Koji (JP H05115633
A – hereinafter Koji) and Oliver H. Claus et al. (WO 2010008980 A1 – hereinafter Claus) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Robert Petcavich et al. (WO 2008123957 A2– hereinafter Petcavich).
Regarding claim 14, the existing combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus does not specifically disclose the razor blade of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more monolayers is a self-assembled monolayer.
However, Petcavich teaches a self-assembled monolayer for use on a razor blade ([0010]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the one or more monolayers of the combination of Decker and Koji to be self-assembled as taught by Petcavich. Doing so is beneficial as it provides a rough coating that is not easily removed, retaining a high level of cutting quality (Petcavich, [0010]).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomas G. Decker et al. (US 5799549 A – hereinafter Decker) in view of Sawada Koji (JP H05115633 A – hereinafter Koji) and Oliver H. Claus et al. (WO 2010008980 A1 – hereinafter Claus) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Neville Sonnenberg et al. (US 20140360021 A1 – hereinafter Sonnenberg).
Regarding claim 15, the existing combination of Decker, Koji, and Claus does not specifically disclose the razor blade of claim 1, wherein the non-fluorinated organic coating is not a gel.
However, Sonnenberg teaches a coating for a razor blade which comprises a porous solid
infiltrated with a liquid ([0048], examiner interprets that this porous solid infiltrated with a liquid
is not a gel).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of
filing to modify the non-fluorinated organic coating of the combination of Decker and Koji to
not be a gel as taught by Sonnenberg. Doing so provides the benefit of preventing the growth of
bacteria (Sonnenberg, [0045]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/22/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 1, Applicant asserts that Koji and Claus cannot be used in combination to teach an organosilane coating of less than 500 angstroms as neither of the two documents teach both limitations, and there would not be a reasonable expectation of success to combine the two limitations. Examiner finds that there would be a reasonable expectation of success in modifying the organosilane coating of Koji to have a thickness of less than 500 angstroms as taught by Claus. Koji does not imply anywhere in its disclose that it would be impossible to create an organosilane layer of less than 500 Angstroms, and in fact defines a preferable range down to 500 Angstroms in addition to clarifying that the thickness of the coating layer is not limited to this preferred range. One of ordinary skill in the art would certainly have a reasonable expectation of success in creating a layer having a thickness of only 1 Angstrom below a defined preferred range with a lower cap of 500 Angstroms. Further, Claus encourages the minimization of the thickness of a coating layer down to 100 Angstroms, and does not include anywhere in its disclosure any limitations towards a material regarding its ability to be as thin or thinner than 500 angstroms.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELLA LORRAINE KEENA whose telephone number is (571)272-1806. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30am - 5:00 pm ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Boyer Ashley can be reached at (571) 272-4502. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ELLA L KEENA/Examiner, Art Unit 3724 /BOYER D ASHLEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3724