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 20 November 2025 has been entered.
Claims 1-12 and 14-31 remain pending in the application, wherein claims 1, 8-9, 18, and 24-25 have been amended, claims 26-31 are new, and claim 13 is canceled.
Support for the amendments can be found in paragraphs 0082, 0083, 0131, and 0151 as stated by applicant on p. 10 of remarks filed 20 November 2025, along with paragraph 0125 of the instant specification (regarding new claim 31). Accordingly, no new matter has been introduced by these amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-12, 14-23, and 25-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claims 1 and 25 each recite the broad recitation wherein the optical coating has a physical thickness of from about 50 nm to about 10 microns, and the claims also recite wherein the thickness of the scratch-resistant layer (i.e. a layer of the optical coating) is from about 500 nm to about 5000 nm, which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims. Specifically, it is not clear how the optical coating can have a thickness as low as 50 nm and include a layer that has a minimum thickness of 500 nm.
Claims 2-12, 14-23, and 26-31 are rejected as they depend on a rejected claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 24 is allowed.
Claims 1 and 25, along with dependent claims 2-12, 14-23, and 26-31, would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The closest prior art of record is the disclosure of Hart as outlined in the Office Action mailed 29 August 2025. However, Hart does not teach or render obvious where the optical coating has anti-reflective layers both between the scratch-resistant layer and the substrate as well as over the scratch-resistant layer. Furthermore, since a scratch-resistant layer would be understood to have the function of reducing/minimizing scratches to the optical coating, it would not have been obvious to position some of the layers of the optical coating over the scratch-resistant coating as these exposed layers would have less benefit from the scratch-resistant coating.
Response to Arguments
The amendments to claims 8 and 18 have corrected the informalities previously identified in the Office Action mailed 29 August 2025. The objection to claims 8 and 18 have been withdrawn.
The amendments to claims 8, 9, and 24 have overcome the indefiniteness previously set forth in the Office Action mailed 29 August 2025. The rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see p. 11-14, filed 20 November 2025, with respect to the prior art, have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the amendments. See above regarding reasons for identifying allowable subject matter. The rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 has been withdrawn.
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 KIM S HORGER whose telephone number is (571)270-5904. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM EST.
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/KIM S. HORGER/Examiner, Art Unit 1784