Appeal No. 2002-0271
Application No. 09/467,406
at least 2 deg. since this is a relative common angle
for wet shavers. Regarding the slicing angle, the
angle of the Hadjopoulos edges are shown to be in the
range claimed by appellant (answer, page 3).
After a careful evaluation of the safety razor and blade
disclosed in the patent to Hadjopoulos, it is our opinion that
the examiner's reasoning in the rejection before us on appeal is
fraught with speculation and conjecture. Thus, like appellant,
we find that the examiner has failed to meet his burden of
establishing a prima facie case of obviousness.
In particular, we share appellant's view as aptly expressed
in the brief and reply brief regarding the examiner's position
that "it would appear likely that the shaving angle of the blades
[in Hadjopoulos] would be slightly above zero as shown in Figs.
1, 7 and would thus be either in or very close to the claimed 2
deg.-90 deg. Range" and that "[i]f less than 2 deg. then it would
appear to be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the
angle would be increased to at least 2 deg. since this is a
relative [sic] common angle for wet shavers." Particularly
persuasive were the arguments presented by appellant in the reply
brief (Paper No. 15, filed July 27, 2001), to which the examiner
chose not to respond. Since neither the applied reference nor
55
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007