Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
8 pending office actions • 4 art units • 5 examiners • 0 of 8 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 3 patents granted in the last 365 days
3Spine, Inc. has 8 pending office actions in Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering. The matters involve 5 examiners across 4 art units, indicating both concentration and distribution within the portfolio. The repeated assignments create an opportunity to review related actions for recurring examination positions while keeping responses tied to each application’s disclosure and claims.
HAMMOND, ELLEN CHRISTINA is the busiest examiner, with 3 pending matters. This is the clearest examiner concentration in the profile, so counsel may find value in comparing those records for consistent treatment of claim scope, cited art, and amendment practice. The other matters still require separate analysis because they are assigned outside that examiner’s docket.
The medical-device and mechanical classification suggests that technical distinctions may turn on structure, interaction, or implementation details. A coordinated strategy should preserve common support across related applications while using application-specific evidence to address novelty, obviousness, or claim interpretation issues.
Practitioners should track how amendments affect neighboring claim sets and related filings. The profile supports both targeted review of Hammond’s matters and broader art-unit monitoring across the remaining applications.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
Difficulty is derived from the rejection statutes on the most recent pending office action. §101-driven and multi-statute cases are graded Hard; §112-only and obviousness-type double-patenting cases are graded Easy; everything else is Medium. "Unknown" means we have not yet parsed a statute for that office action.
| Bucket | Cases |
|---|---|
| §101 + other | 2 (25%) |
| §103 only | 1 (12%) |
| §102 only | 1 (12%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (12%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (38%) |
How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.
Manual office-action response work runs about 10 hours per case. The time-saved bands below show what IP Author's prosecution pipeline typically delivers — a conservative 20% on the low end, 35% in the middle, 50% on the high end.
| Examiner | Apps on this docket | Allow rate | Interview lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| HAMMOND, ELLEN CHRISTINA | 3 | 78.3% | +11.4% |
| MERENE, JAN CHRISTOP L | 2 | 68.5% | +48.1% |
| SIPP, AMY R. | 1 | 71.1% | +26.0% |
| SKIBINSKY, ANNA | 1 | 39.1% | +29.3% |
| FUELLING, MICHAEL | 1 | 44.1% | +31.1% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18373185 | SPINAL MOTION RESTORATION | HAMMOND, ELLEN CHRISTINA | 42d overdue |
| 19076602 | INSTRUMENTATION FOR TOTAL SPINAL JOINT REPLACEMENT | SIPP, AMY R. | — |
| 18371334 | SURGICAL METHOD FOR RESTORING SPINAL ALIGNMENT AND/OR RANGE OF MOTION | MERENE, JAN CHRISTOP L | — |
| 18236367 | RESTORING SPINAL ALIGNMENT AND/OR RANGE OF MOTION | MERENE, JAN CHRISTOP L | — |
| 18226979 | ROBOTIC & NAVIGATION ASSISTED TOTAL SPINAL JOINT REPLACEMENT | SKIBINSKY, ANNA | — |
Cases in front of an examiner whose interview lift is 10 percentage points or more — i.e. interviewed cases historically resolve more favorably than non-interviewed ones. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18373185 | SPINAL MOTION RESTORATION | HAMMOND, ELLEN CHRISTINA | 42d overdue |
| 18594385 | POSTERIOR TOTAL JOINT REPLACEMENT | HAMMOND, ELLEN CHRISTINA | 30d overdue |
| 19076602 | INSTRUMENTATION FOR TOTAL SPINAL JOINT REPLACEMENT | SIPP, AMY R. | — |
| 18371334 | SURGICAL METHOD FOR RESTORING SPINAL ALIGNMENT AND/OR RANGE OF MOTION | MERENE, JAN CHRISTOP L | — |
| 18236367 | RESTORING SPINAL ALIGNMENT AND/OR RANGE OF MOTION | MERENE, JAN CHRISTOP L | — |
| 18232557 | TOTAL SPINAL JOINT SYSTEMS WITH DISSIMILAR BEARING MATERIALS | HAMMOND, ELLEN CHRISTINA | — |
| 18226979 | ROBOTIC & NAVIGATION ASSISTED TOTAL SPINAL JOINT REPLACEMENT | SKIBINSKY, ANNA | — |
| 18226727 | METHODS, SYSTEMS AND DEVICES FOR IMPROVING THE ACCURACY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF SPINAL MOTION RESTORATION AND ALIGNMENT | FUELLING, MICHAEL | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3773 | 5 |
| 3775 | 1 |
| 1635 | 1 |
| 3992 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19076602 | INSTRUMENTATION FOR TOTAL SPINAL JOINT REPLACEMENT | SIPP, AMY R. | 3775 | §101§102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 11, 2025 |
| 18594385 | POSTERIOR TOTAL JOINT REPLACEMENT | HAMMOND, ELLEN CHRISTINA | 3773 | §102Other | Final Rejection | 30d overdue | Pending | Mar 04, 2024 |
| 18373185 | SPINAL MOTION RESTORATION | HAMMOND, ELLEN CHRISTINA | 3773 | §102§103§112Other | Non-Final OA | 42d overdue | Pending | Sep 26, 2023 |
| 18371334 | SURGICAL METHOD FOR RESTORING SPINAL ALIGNMENT AND/OR RANGE OF MOTION | MERENE, JAN CHRISTOP L | 3773 | §103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 21, 2023 |
| 18236367 | RESTORING SPINAL ALIGNMENT AND/OR RANGE OF MOTION | MERENE, JAN CHRISTOP L | 3773 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 21, 2023 |
| 18232557 | TOTAL SPINAL JOINT SYSTEMS WITH DISSIMILAR BEARING MATERIALS | HAMMOND, ELLEN CHRISTINA | 3773 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 10, 2023 |
| 18226979 | ROBOTIC & NAVIGATION ASSISTED TOTAL SPINAL JOINT REPLACEMENT | SKIBINSKY, ANNA | 1635 | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 27, 2023 |
| 18226727 | METHODS, SYSTEMS AND DEVICES FOR IMPROVING THE ACCURACY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF SPINAL MOTION RESTORATION AND ALIGNMENT | FUELLING, MICHAEL | 3992 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 26, 2023 |
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Start Free Trial3Spine, Inc. has 8 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 4 art units and 5 examiners.
Ellen Christina Hammond has the most, with 3 of 3Spine, Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
