Appeal No. 2006-0263
Application No. 10/379,264
with its attendant function is a matter of obviousness for one of
ordinary skill in the art. In re Thompson, 545 F.2d 1290, 1294,
192 USPQ 275, 277 (CCPA 1976); In re Kuhle, 526 F.2d 553, 555,
188 USPQ 7, 9 (CCPA 1975); In re Edge, 359 F.2d 896, 899,
149 USPQ 556, 557 (CCPA 1966). As for the presence of the
chromium dopant in the coating layer, Goel, as well as Wang,
provide evidence that it was known in the art to employ such
chromium dopants in the coatings of razor blades which comprise
diamond-like materials. Although Wang is not directed to razor
blades, in particular, appellants acknowledge that Wang discloses
that a diamond-like carbon material containing chromium possesses
good adhesion to a substrate (column 4, lines 4 et seq.). The
fact that Wang also teaches that the provision of interlayers may
especially enhance the adhesion and reduced residual stress of a
chromium-containing diamond-like carbon material does not negate
the fact that the reference explicitly teaches that the presence
of chromium improves the adhesion of a diamond-like carbon
material. Appellants have not argued, let alone provided
objective evidence, that the adhesion of the claimed coating
material cannot be increased by providing an interlayer.
As a final point, we note that appellants base no argument
upon objective evidence of nonobviousness, such as unexpected
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