Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
7 pending office actions • 4 art units • 7 examiners • 3 of 7 (43%) have an AI response strategy ready • 22 patents granted in the last 365 days
Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. has 7 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These actions are distributed across 7 distinct examiners and 4 distinct art units. This indicates that every pending matter is being reviewed by a different examiner. The involvement of 4 distinct art units suggests that the company's materials-related innovations span several different specialized groups at the patent office.
The busiest examiner for the portfolio is MELENDEZ, ARMAND, who is assigned 1 pending office action. With 7 pending office actions and 7 distinct examiners, the workload is evenly split, with no single examiner handling more than one case. Practitioners should be prepared to address the specific requirements of four different art units while managing seven separate examiner relationships. This decentralized approach means that no single examiner's perspective will dominate the portfolio's current prosecution. The focus on Chemistry & Materials defines the technical scope of these 7 pending office actions. Practitioners must tailor their arguments to the specific preferences of each individual examiner involved.
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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 5 (71%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (29%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MELENDEZ, ARMAND | 1 | 46.2% | +43.1% |
| GONZALEZ, MADELINE | 1 | 72.6% | +15.7% |
| MAYO, TARA LEIGH | 1 | 74.6% | +11.3% |
| TOLEDO-DURAN, EDWIN J | 1 | 70.1% | +32.2% |
| PERREAULT, ANDREW D | 1 | 46.6% | +18.4% |
| JEONG, YOUNGSUL | 1 | 71.5% | +21.6% |
| NEWAY, BLAINE GIRMA | 1 | 30.2% | +39.8% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18827151 | MEDIA MIXTURE FOR WATER TREATMENT | GONZALEZ, MADELINE | — |
| 18427428 | MULTI-PURPOSE LID FOR SEPTIC TANK AND ASSOCIATED RISER | PERREAULT, ANDREW D | — |
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 7 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18297991 | LIQUID QUALITY SYSTEM WITH DRAG-INDUCING PORTIONS | JEONG, YOUNGSUL | 56d |
| 18775973 | END CAPS FOR STORMWATER CHAMBERS AND METHODS OF MAKING SAME | TOLEDO-DURAN, EDWIN J | 70d |
| 18894747 | DUAL PIPE MANUFACTURING CELL | MELENDEZ, ARMAND | — |
| 18827151 | MEDIA MIXTURE FOR WATER TREATMENT | GONZALEZ, MADELINE | — |
| 18776360 | SYSTEMS, APPARATUS, AND METHODS FOR MAINTENANCE OF STORMWATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS | MAYO, TARA LEIGH | — |
| 18427428 | MULTI-PURPOSE LID FOR SEPTIC TANK AND ASSOCIATED RISER | PERREAULT, ANDREW D | — |
| 18165539 | PLASTIC TANK WITH HIGH STRENGTH ENDWALL | NEWAY, BLAINE GIRMA | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3735 | 2 |
| 1759 | 1 |
| 3678 | 1 |
| 1772 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18894747 | DUAL PIPE MANUFACTURING CELL | MELENDEZ, ARMAND | 1759 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 24, 2024 |
| 18827151 | MEDIA MIXTURE FOR WATER TREATMENT | GONZALEZ, MADELINE | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 06, 2024 |
| 18776360 | SYSTEMS, APPARATUS, AND METHODS FOR MAINTENANCE OF STORMWATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS | MAYO, TARA LEIGH | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 18, 2024 |
| 18775973 | END CAPS FOR STORMWATER CHAMBERS AND METHODS OF MAKING SAME | TOLEDO-DURAN, EDWIN J | 3678 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 70d | AI Ready | Jul 17, 2024 |
| 18427428 | MULTI-PURPOSE LID FOR SEPTIC TANK AND ASSOCIATED RISER | PERREAULT, ANDREW D | 3735 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 30, 2024 |
| 18297991 | LIQUID QUALITY SYSTEM WITH DRAG-INDUCING PORTIONS | JEONG, YOUNGSUL | 1772 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 56d | AI Ready | Apr 10, 2023 |
| 18165539 | PLASTIC TANK WITH HIGH STRENGTH ENDWALL | NEWAY, BLAINE GIRMA | 3735 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | AI Ready | Feb 07, 2023 |
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