Appeal No. 2006-3179 Page 10
Application No. 10/477,069
not lead to capping of the surface with fluoroalkyl groups.” (Underlining removed.)
Brief, page 5, ¶ 1.
We do not agree with Appellants’ characterization of the solution as a “mixture.”
Gupta shows very clearly that silane and perfluoralkyl are chemically reacted to form a
single molecule. See Gupta, Fig. 3a showing that the perfluoroalkyl acid and silane
(“Z-6020”) are subjected to reflux prior to application by immersion of the device.
Id., page 8, lines 3-7. Fig. 4 shows that the resulting “reaction product” contains three
possible different molecules, not mixtures.
In regard to Appellants’ description of “capping of the surface,” this is apparently
a reference to the structure which would be achieved using the claimed reagent to coat
the lens surface. However, this structure is not missing from Gupta. Fig. 3b of Gupta
contains an illustration of a coated lens body with an inner silane layer and an
outermost “fluoroalkyl layer.” The latter tops the lens’ body surface, and thus could be
described as “capping” it.
Special importance has been placed by Appellants on the amide bond described
in certain preferred embodiments disclosed by Gupta. Brief, page 6. Appellants state
that Gupta “would instruct one” to use “a reagent mixture which results in amide,
siloxane and secondary amine coated surfaces (which are said to all contribute to the
biological inertness of the surface, see Gupta page 8, lines 13 - 15)” and thus would not
be motivated to replace it with Ogawa’s reagents which lack this linkage. Id., page 6, ¶
1. Notwithstanding Gupta’s statement about the “contribution” of the amide bond, Fig. 1
attributes the biological inertness to a “thin” layer of fluorocarbon. Its thickness is
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