Appeal No. 1996-3277
Application No. 08/143,373
The examiner relies upon the following references as
evidence of obviousness:
Loshaek 4,668,240 May 26,
1987
Rawlings et al. (Rawlings) 5,034,166 Jul. 23,
1991
Appealed claims 14-16 and 18-24 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Rawlings in view of
Loshaek.
Upon careful consideration of the opposing arguments
presented on appeal, we will not sustain the examiner's
rejection.
Claims 14-16 and 18-24 are directed to a method of
producing a soft hydrogel colored contact lens utilizing a
dispersion that has incorporated therein a thixotropic agent.
Neither of the applied references teaches the use of a
thixotropic agent in the composition for making a hydrogel
contact lens. The examiner, cognizant of this, states that
the dispersion of Rawlings typically contains "viscosity
controlling agents to achieve a desired viscosity," and
thereby concludes that "it would have been within the skill
level of the art to employ a thixotropic agent in the colorant
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