Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
5 pending office actions • 4 art units • 5 examiners • 0 of 5 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 11 patents granted in the last 365 days
Acumed LLC has 5 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed across 4 distinct art units, suggesting that the company's applications cover a wide range of mechanical and medical classifications. The portfolio is examined by 5 distinct examiners, with each pending action assigned to a different individual.
DORNBUSCH, DIANNE is identified as the busiest examiner for the portfolio, though they only have 1 pending case. This distribution between pending office actions and distinct examiners means that the company's prosecution strategy is highly decentralized. Practitioners must be prepared to handle different examination styles across 4 distinct art units, requiring a versatile approach to USPTO negotiations.
The art units involved indicate that the 5 pending office actions are not technically identical. This diversity in classification means that the examiners are likely applying different sets of prior art and examination guidelines. Practitioners should focus on the specific requirements of each of the 4 distinct art units to ensure that the pending office actions are addressed with the appropriate technical depth.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 4 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
Every pending office action with a known statutory deadline, placed on a days-until-due axis. Dots left of Today are overdue; the further right, the more runway. Cases that share a deadline window stack vertically. 4 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.
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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 3 (60%) |
| §102 only | 1 (20%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (20%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DORNBUSCH, DIANNE | 1 | 73.9% | +35.2% |
| SEVILLA, CHRISTIAN ANTHONY | 1 | 75.9% | +19.4% |
| HOAG, MITCHELL BRAIN | 1 | 70.4% | +18.8% |
| MERRIAM, AARON ROGERS | 1 | 31.6% | +63.1% |
| STEWART, ALVIN J | 1 | 82.1% | +0.7% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17801652 | CRANIOFACIAL IMPLANTS FOR NEUROPLASTIC SURGERY | STEWART, ALVIN J | 11d overdue |
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 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17974965 | ANCHOR INSERTION SYSTEMS FOR A WINGED BONE ANCHOR HAVING A DRIVING CORE | HOAG, MITCHELL BRAIN | 86d overdue |
| 17970801 | GUIDEWIRE SIZING INSTRUMENTS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS | MERRIAM, AARON ROGERS | 28d overdue |
| 18594921 | HEADLESS COMPRESSION SCREW HAVING AN ATTACHMENT MECHANISM | SEVILLA, CHRISTIAN ANTHONY | 30d |
| 18828674 | REDUCED FRICTION KNOTLESS SUTURE ROUTING | DORNBUSCH, DIANNE | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3771 | 2 |
| 3775 | 1 |
| 3791 | 1 |
| 3799 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18828674 | REDUCED FRICTION KNOTLESS SUTURE ROUTING | DORNBUSCH, DIANNE | 3771 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 09, 2024 |
| 18594921 | HEADLESS COMPRESSION SCREW HAVING AN ATTACHMENT MECHANISM | SEVILLA, CHRISTIAN ANTHONY | 3775 | §102§103§112DP | Final Rejection | 30d | Pending | Mar 04, 2024 |
| 17974965 | ANCHOR INSERTION SYSTEMS FOR A WINGED BONE ANCHOR HAVING A DRIVING CORE | HOAG, MITCHELL BRAIN | 3771 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 86d overdue | Pending | Oct 27, 2022 |
| 17970801 | GUIDEWIRE SIZING INSTRUMENTS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS | MERRIAM, AARON ROGERS | 3791 | §103 | Final Rejection | 28d overdue | Pending | Oct 21, 2022 |
| 17801652 | CRANIOFACIAL IMPLANTS FOR NEUROPLASTIC SURGERY | STEWART, ALVIN J | 3799 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 11d overdue | Pending | Aug 23, 2022 |
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