Appeal No. 2004-2352
Application No. 09/854,419
obviousness which is not outweighed by the evidence of
nonobviousness adduced by the appellants. Accordingly, we shall
affirm the rejections at issue.
Since we are in substantial agreement with the examiner’s
position, as set forth in the examiner’s answer, we adopt that
position as our own. Indeed, the answer includes an
exceptionally thorough and cogent analysis and treatment of the
issues on appeal. For that reason, we offer the following
remarks for purposes of emphasis.
As the examiner indicates, Ormsby and Rosthauser evidence
the conventionality of using polyester urethanes as the binder
component for photochromic compounds used, as in Bhalakia, in
multilayer optical elements to form ophthalmic lenses. Ormsby
even suggests that polyurethane binders can, in general, be
expected to provide enhanced fatigue resistance to photochromic
articles (Ormsby: col. 2, ll. 10-17). Thus, the obviousness of
using a polyester urethane as the binder in the photochromic
layer of Bhalakia is manifest.
With regard to the prima facie case of obviousness, we are
mindful that the appellants have cited Bowles for the proposition
that problems associated with the application of polarizing
layers to a lens blank do not obtain when the focus is upon
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