Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
22 pending office actions • 7 art units • 17 examiners • 0 of 22 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 39 patents granted in the last 365 days
Apex Brands Inc. currently has 21 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed among 16 distinct examiners, indicating that some examiners are handling multiple applications for the company. The portfolio's activity is spread across 7 distinct art units, which suggests a focused but multi-faceted technical scope for the company's pending patents.
The busiest examiner for this portfolio is SCRUGGS, ROBERT J, who is managing 4 busiest examiner pending actions. This represents a concentration, as 4 of the 21 pending office actions are assigned to this single individual. Practitioners should prioritize monitoring the progress of these 4 actions, as the examiner's decisions will have a substantial impact on the portfolio's overall success rate.
With 16 distinct examiners and 7 distinct art units, the prosecution landscape for Apex Brands Inc. is relatively concentrated. The 4 busiest examiner pending actions with SCRUGGS, ROBERT J highlight a key area of focus for the company's legal team. Managing these 21 pending office actions requires balancing individualized examiner strategies with a more concentrated effort in specific art units where multiple matters are pending.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 6 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. 6 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 | 1 (5%) |
| §103 only | 6 (27%) |
| §112 only | 1 (5%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (5%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 13 (59%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCRUGGS, ROBERT J | 4 | 60.3% | +25.8% |
| JOH, CATHERINE | 3 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| IGBOKWE, NICHOLAS E | 1 | 81.0% | +13.8% |
| TECCO, ANDREW M | 1 | 65.4% | +24.7% |
| MORELLO, JEAN F | 1 | 68.6% | +9.0% |
| DUNLAP, JONATHAN M | 1 | 76.2% | +17.0% |
| HAMMOND III, THOMAS M | 1 | 75.8% | +29.3% |
| NEUBAUER, THOMAS L | 1 | 65.9% | +20.0% |
| AHMED, JAMIL | 1 | 82.0% | +15.3% |
| THOMAS, DAVID B | 1 | 76.8% | +21.3% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18846056 | Photoelectric Sensor Controlled by Pulse-Width Modulation | AHMED, JAMIL | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18502230 | CIRCLIP PLIERS WITH GRIPPING SURFACES | JOH, CATHERINE | 35d overdue |
| 18502199 | CIRCLIP PLIERS WITH IMPROVED DESIGN | JOH, CATHERINE | 35d overdue |
| 18569913 | ADJUSTABLE LOCKING PLIERS | SHAKERI, HADI | 20d |
| 18242892 | UTILITY BLADE AND HOLDER | MATTHEWS, JENNIFER S | 82d |
| 19164641 | IMPACT DRIVER TORQUE CONTROL | IGBOKWE, NICHOLAS E | — |
| 19130709 | MULTI-REGION ERGONOMIC POWER TOOL AND HANDGRIP | TECCO, ANDREW M | — |
| 19107942 | A Torque Tester for Verifying Multiple Electronic Torque Wrenches | MORELLO, JEAN F | — |
| 18911753 | CIRCLIP PLIER TIPS | JOH, CATHERINE | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17575231 | Extractor Socket with Bidirectional Driving Capability and Corresponding Extraction Set with Intermediate Sizes | SCRUGGS, ROBERT J | 49d overdue |
| 18272137 | STRIKING IMPLEMENT WITH ANTI-SHOCK GRIP | SCRUGGS, ROBERT J | 5d |
| 19164641 | IMPACT DRIVER TORQUE CONTROL | IGBOKWE, NICHOLAS E | — |
| 19130709 | MULTI-REGION ERGONOMIC POWER TOOL AND HANDGRIP | TECCO, ANDREW M | — |
| 18854676 | TORQUE MEASUREMENT WITH COMPENSATION FOR STRAIN GAUGE BIAS | DUNLAP, JONATHAN M | — |
| 18846046 | Torque Measurement with Increased Accuracy at Lower Torque Values | HAMMOND III, THOMAS M | — |
| 18846029 | Tool Storage System with an Electric Lock | NEUBAUER, THOMAS L | — |
| 18846056 | Photoelectric Sensor Controlled by Pulse-Width Modulation | AHMED, JAMIL | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3723 | 7 |
| 3731 | 2 |
| 2855 | 2 |
| 3675 | 1 |
| 3726 | 1 |
| 3643 | 1 |
| 3724 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19164641 | IMPACT DRIVER TORQUE CONTROL | IGBOKWE, NICHOLAS E | 3731 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 12, 2025 |
| 19130709 | MULTI-REGION ERGONOMIC POWER TOOL AND HANDGRIP | TECCO, ANDREW M | 3731 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 16, 2025 |
| 19107942 | A Torque Tester for Verifying Multiple Electronic Torque Wrenches | MORELLO, JEAN F | 2855 | §101 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 28, 2025 |
| 18911753 | CIRCLIP PLIER TIPS | JOH, CATHERINE | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 10, 2024 |
| 18854676 | TORQUE MEASUREMENT WITH COMPENSATION FOR STRAIN GAUGE BIAS | DUNLAP, JONATHAN M | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 07, 2024 |
| 18846046 | Torque Measurement with Increased Accuracy at Lower Torque Values | HAMMOND III, THOMAS M | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 11, 2024 |
| 18846029 | Tool Storage System with an Electric Lock | NEUBAUER, THOMAS L | 3675 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 11, 2024 |
| 18846056 | Photoelectric Sensor Controlled by Pulse-Width Modulation | AHMED, JAMIL | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 11, 2024 |
| 18838030 | BIDIRECTIONAL MAGNETIC EXTRACTOR TOOL | THOMAS, DAVID B | — | §102§103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 13, 2024 |
| 18832524 | Drill Chuck with Hardened Body | CADUGAN, ERICA E | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 24, 2024 |
| 18574865 | SOLDERING STATION WITH IRON HOLDER | TRAN, TIFFANY T | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 28, 2023 |
| 18570258 | BORING TOOL | FORD, DARRELL CHRISTOPHER | 3726 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 14, 2023 |
| 18569913 | ADJUSTABLE LOCKING PLIERS | SHAKERI, HADI | 3723 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 20d | Pending | Dec 13, 2023 |
| 18502230 | CIRCLIP PLIERS WITH GRIPPING SURFACES | JOH, CATHERINE | 3723 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | 35d overdue | Pending | Nov 06, 2023 |
| 18502199 | CIRCLIP PLIERS WITH IMPROVED DESIGN | JOH, CATHERINE | 3723 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 35d overdue | Pending | Nov 06, 2023 |
| 18481663 | MEASURING TAPE WITH END HOOK HAVING A LASER ETCHED HIGH FRICTION SURFACE | GUADALUPE, YARITZA | 2855 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 05, 2023 |
| 18242880 | FOLDING UTILITY KNIFE | PARSLEY, DAVID J | 3643 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 06, 2023 |
| 18242892 | UTILITY BLADE AND HOLDER | MATTHEWS, JENNIFER S | 3724 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 82d | Pending | Sep 06, 2023 |
| 18272137 | STRIKING IMPLEMENT WITH ANTI-SHOCK GRIP | SCRUGGS, ROBERT J | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 5d | Pending | Jul 13, 2023 |
| 17950309 | Extractor Insert with Bidirectional Driving Capability and Corresponding Extractor Insert Set with Intermediate Sizes | SCRUGGS, ROBERT J | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 22, 2022 |
| 17575231 | Extractor Socket with Bidirectional Driving Capability and Corresponding Extraction Set with Intermediate Sizes | SCRUGGS, ROBERT J | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 49d overdue | Pending | Jan 13, 2022 |
| 17575285 | Extractor Socket with Bidirectional Driving Capability and Corresponding Extraction Set with Intermediate Sizes | SCRUGGS, ROBERT J | 3723 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 13, 2022 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free Trial