Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
7 pending office actions • 6 art units • 6 examiners • 0 of 7 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 6 patents granted in the last 365 days
Ascend Elements, Inc. has 6 pending office actions in Chemistry & Materials. The matters involve 5 distinct examiners and 5 distinct art units. BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN is the busiest examiner, with 2 pending matters. The profile shows limited repeated assignment, with separate art-unit coverage for most matters.
The two matters before the busiest examiner may support a targeted comparison of claim treatment and cited references. The remaining actions require independent review because their art-unit assignments differ. Counsel can use a common framework for materials-related disclosure and amendment analysis while preserving record-specific arguments and deadline controls.
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 | 3 (43%) |
| §102 only | 1 (14%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (14%) |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | 2 | 81.2% | +15.2% |
| NGUYEN, KHANH TUAN | 1 | 74.5% | +18.7% |
| NASSIRI MOTLAGH, ANITA | 1 | 55.9% | +24.3% |
| RUMP, RICHARD M | 1 | 74.4% | +20.3% |
| SLIFKA, COLIN W | 1 | 67.4% | +16.1% |
| ZEMUI, NATHANAEL T | 1 | 55.6% | +23.7% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18769828 | NICKEL-RICH BATTERY RECYCLING | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18237804 | IMPURITY MANAGEMENT FOR RECYCLED CATHODE MATERIAL | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | 56d |
| 18598887 | LITHIUM RECYCLING | RUMP, RICHARD M | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18120776 | DOPED CATHODE MATERIAL PRECURSOR FROM RECYCLED LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES | ZEMUI, NATHANAEL T | 19d overdue |
| 18237804 | IMPURITY MANAGEMENT FOR RECYCLED CATHODE MATERIAL | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | 56d |
| 19205325 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECYCLING LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES | NGUYEN, KHANH TUAN | — |
| 18769828 | NICKEL-RICH BATTERY RECYCLING | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | — |
| 18653479 | GRAPHITE ROASTING AND PURIFICATION FOR LI-ION BATTERIES | NASSIRI MOTLAGH, ANITA | — |
| 18598887 | LITHIUM RECYCLING | RUMP, RICHARD M | — |
| 18237807 | TERNARY POSITIVE ACTIVE ELECTRODE LEACHING | SLIFKA, COLIN W | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1736 | 2 |
| 1761 | 1 |
| 1734 | 1 |
| 1759 | 1 |
| 1732 | 1 |
| 1727 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19205325 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECYCLING LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES | NGUYEN, KHANH TUAN | 1761 | §102Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 12, 2025 |
| 18769828 | NICKEL-RICH BATTERY RECYCLING | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | 1736 | §102§103DP | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 11, 2024 |
| 18653479 | GRAPHITE ROASTING AND PURIFICATION FOR LI-ION BATTERIES | NASSIRI MOTLAGH, ANITA | 1734 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 02, 2024 |
| 18598887 | LITHIUM RECYCLING | RUMP, RICHARD M | 1759 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 07, 2024 |
| 18237804 | IMPURITY MANAGEMENT FOR RECYCLED CATHODE MATERIAL | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | 1736 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 56d | Pending | Aug 24, 2023 |
| 18237807 | TERNARY POSITIVE ACTIVE ELECTRODE LEACHING | SLIFKA, COLIN W | 1732 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 24, 2023 |
| 18120776 | DOPED CATHODE MATERIAL PRECURSOR FROM RECYCLED LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES | ZEMUI, NATHANAEL T | 1727 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 19d overdue | Pending | Mar 13, 2023 |
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Start Free TrialAscend Elements, Inc. has 7 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 6 art units and 6 examiners.
Zachary John Baum has the most, with 2 of Ascend Elements, Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Chemistry & Materials (USPTO Tech Center 1700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
