Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 21, 2026
Application No. 18/985,815

Modular Fuel Cell Assembly And Liquid Hydrogen Tank For A Work Vehicle

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Dec 18, 2024
Priority
Dec 22, 2023 — provisional 63/614,246
Examiner
RESTIFO, JEFFREY J
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Komatsu America Corp.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
79%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
7m
Est. Remaining
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 79% — above average
79%
Career Allowance Rate
845 granted / 1067 resolved
+19.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +11% lift
Without
With
+10.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
24 currently pending
Career history
1089
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
§103
47.6%
+7.6% vs TC avg
§102
39.7%
-0.3% vs TC avg
§112
3.2%
-36.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1067 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Election/Restrictions Claims 12, 13, 15, 17, and 18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species B-G, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 8/31/26. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1, 8, 9, 11, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ragi et al. (US 12,519,122 B2). With respect to claims 1 and 14, Ragi et al. discloses a work vehicle comprising a chassis 108 defined by a pair of rails (not shown), a deck or operator cab (not numbered), cargo bed (not numbered), drive motor (not shown), fuel cell 108 mounted under the cargo bed near the operator cab, hydrogen tanks 614, fuel cell enclosures 101 for housing said fuel cells, and pressure valves PT, which would inherently be intended to be “leak-free”, as shown in figures and 6B. PNG media_image1.png 456 718 media_image1.png Greyscale PNG media_image2.png 455 665 media_image2.png Greyscale With respect to claims 8 and 9, said fuel cells are on either side of the vehicle attached to the chassis rails, as shown in figure 7A. With respect to claim 11, air filters 142, 144 are on said fuel cell enclosure, as shown in figure 6B. With respect to claim 16, said tanks are mounted between said chassis rail ends, as shown in figure 7A. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2-7, and 10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEFFREY J RESTIFO whose telephone number is (571)272-6697. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 11am-8pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, J. Allen Shriver can be reached at (303) 297-4337. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. JEFFREY J. RESTIFO Primary Examiner Art Unit 3613 /JEFFREY J RESTIFO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3613
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Prosecution Timeline

Dec 18, 2024
Application Filed
Oct 05, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12759851
CART AND TRANSPORT DEVICE
2y 8m to grant Granted Oct 13, 2026
Patent 12752710
DEPLOYABLE STEP ASSEMBLY FOR AN AGRICULTURAL UTILITY VEHICLE
2y 8m to grant Granted Oct 06, 2026
Patent 12741544
VEHICLE BODY LOWER STRUCTURE
2y 6m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
Patent 12734907
ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN WORK MACHINE
2y 2m to grant Granted Sep 15, 2026
Patent 12735086
VERTICALLY-MOVABLE, TRANSMISSION-FRIENDLY, AND CONTROLLABLE STROLLER
2y 3m to grant Granted Sep 15, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
79%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+10.7%)
2y 5m (~7m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1067 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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