Technology area: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
13 pending office actions • 8 art units • 12 examiners • 0 of 13 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 2 patents granted in the last 365 days
Affirm, Inc. currently manages 15 pending office actions within the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems technology area. These actions are handled by 14 distinct examiners, which demonstrates a low concentration of cases per examiner. The prosecution is further spread across 8 distinct art units, indicating that the company's financial and mechanical technologies fall under a variety of patent office classifications.
The busiest examiner, HASBROUCK, MERRITT J, is assigned 2 pending office actions. This examiner manages a small portion of the 15 pending office actions, while the rest are distributed among the other 14 distinct examiners. For a practitioner, this means that almost every case requires a unique relationship with a different examiner. Navigating 8 distinct art units with 14 distinct examiners necessitates a decentralized prosecution strategy that prioritizes the specific nuances of each individual examiner's prior art interpretations and procedural preferences.
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 |
|---|---|
| §101 only | 7 (54%) |
| §101 + other | 6 (46%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| HASBROUCK, MERRITT J | 2 | 9.7% | +7.0% |
| PUTTAIAH, ASHA | 1 | 21.0% | +20.7% |
| MERCHANT, SHAHID R | 1 | 28.3% | +24.8% |
| KANERVO, VIRPI H | 1 | 47.5% | +47.6% |
| WARDEN, MICHAEL J | 1 | 25.4% | +21.5% |
| WEINER, ARIELLE E | 1 | 43.4% | +53.6% |
| FU, HAO | 1 | 49.9% | +24.8% |
| SHAIKH, MOHAMMAD Z | 1 | 52.4% | +31.4% |
| MUSTAFA, MOHAMMED H | 1 | 35.2% | +30.2% |
| ARAQUE JR, GERARDO | 1 | 9.4% | +15.7% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18111637 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FASTER ACH TRANSFER PROCESSING | KANERVO, VIRPI H | 42d overdue |
| 17546292 | System, Method and Apparatus for Providing Improved Electronic Disclosure of Credit Terms | AKINTOLA, OLABODE | 30d overdue |
| 17950527 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZATION OF FINANCING PROGRAMS | MUSTAFA, MOHAMMED H | 23d |
| 17958641 | INTEGRATION OF FINANCING INTO A CUSTOMER SELF-CHECKOUT INVOLVING SCANNING PRODUCTS WITH A USER DEVICE | WEINER, ARIELLE E | 54d |
| 18214171 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERSONALIZATION OF PREQUALIFICATION FOR FINANCING PROGRAMS | PUTTAIAH, ASHA | — |
| 18144383 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING OF REFUNDS IN ASSOCIATION WITH A FUNCTIONALLY DYNAMIC CARD | MERCHANT, SHAHID R | — |
| 18111668 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING INSUFFICIENT FUNDS RETURNS IN FINANCIAL TRANSACTION PROCESSING | HASBROUCK, MERRITT J | — |
| 18077282 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING PROVISION OF MERCHANT PREQUALIFICATION AMOUNTS TO USERS | WARDEN, MICHAEL J | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18111637 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FASTER ACH TRANSFER PROCESSING | KANERVO, VIRPI H | 42d overdue |
| 17950527 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZATION OF FINANCING PROGRAMS | MUSTAFA, MOHAMMED H | 23d |
| 17958641 | INTEGRATION OF FINANCING INTO A CUSTOMER SELF-CHECKOUT INVOLVING SCANNING PRODUCTS WITH A USER DEVICE | WEINER, ARIELLE E | 54d |
| 18214171 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERSONALIZATION OF PREQUALIFICATION FOR FINANCING PROGRAMS | PUTTAIAH, ASHA | — |
| 18144383 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING OF REFUNDS IN ASSOCIATION WITH A FUNCTIONALLY DYNAMIC CARD | MERCHANT, SHAHID R | — |
| 18077282 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING PROVISION OF MERCHANT PREQUALIFICATION AMOUNTS TO USERS | WARDEN, MICHAEL J | — |
| 17953605 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING MIXED CART FINANCING OPTIONS | FU, HAO | — |
| 17952831 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAPPING OF PLANNED PURCHASES WITH PRE-APPROVED FINANCING TERMS TO FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS | SHAIKH, MOHAMMAD Z | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3691 | 3 |
| 3695 | 3 |
| 3694 | 2 |
| 3684 | 1 |
| 3689 | 1 |
| 3693 | 1 |
| 3629 | 1 |
| 3692 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18214171 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERSONALIZATION OF PREQUALIFICATION FOR FINANCING PROGRAMS | PUTTAIAH, ASHA | 3691 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 26, 2023 |
| 18144383 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING OF REFUNDS IN ASSOCIATION WITH A FUNCTIONALLY DYNAMIC CARD | MERCHANT, SHAHID R | 3684 | §101 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 08, 2023 |
| 18111637 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FASTER ACH TRANSFER PROCESSING | KANERVO, VIRPI H | 3691 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | 42d overdue | Pending | Feb 20, 2023 |
| 18111668 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING INSUFFICIENT FUNDS RETURNS IN FINANCIAL TRANSACTION PROCESSING | HASBROUCK, MERRITT J | 3695 | §101 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 20, 2023 |
| 18077282 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING PROVISION OF MERCHANT PREQUALIFICATION AMOUNTS TO USERS | WARDEN, MICHAEL J | 3694 | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 08, 2022 |
| 17958641 | INTEGRATION OF FINANCING INTO A CUSTOMER SELF-CHECKOUT INVOLVING SCANNING PRODUCTS WITH A USER DEVICE | WEINER, ARIELLE E | 3689 | §101§103 | Final Rejection | 54d | Pending | Oct 03, 2022 |
| 17953605 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING MIXED CART FINANCING OPTIONS | FU, HAO | 3695 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 27, 2022 |
| 17952831 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAPPING OF PLANNED PURCHASES WITH PRE-APPROVED FINANCING TERMS TO FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS | SHAIKH, MOHAMMAD Z | 3694 | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 26, 2022 |
| 17950527 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZATION OF FINANCING PROGRAMS | MUSTAFA, MOHAMMED H | 3693 | §101 | Non-Final OA | 23d | Pending | Sep 22, 2022 |
| 17728386 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVISION OF A VIRTUAL CARD HAVING A PERSISTENT PRIMARY ACCOUNT NUMBER | HASBROUCK, MERRITT J | 3695 | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 25, 2022 |
| 17698463 | Method and Apparatus for Facilitating Provision of Instant Credit to Customers VIA Rapid and Machine Learning Supported Underwriting Decisions | ARAQUE JR, GERARDO | 3629 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 18, 2022 |
| 17546292 | System, Method and Apparatus for Providing Improved Electronic Disclosure of Credit Terms | AKINTOLA, OLABODE | 3691 | §101 | Non-Final OA | 30d overdue | Pending | Dec 09, 2021 |
| 17489293 | System, Method and Apparatus for Enabling Enhanced Consumer Engagement for Providing Access to Credit for Online Purchases | POE, KEVIN T | 3692 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 29, 2021 |
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Start Free TrialAffirm, Inc. has 13 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 8 art units and 12 examiners.
Merritt J Hasbrouck has the most, with 2 of Affirm, Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems (USPTO Tech Center 3600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
