Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
5 pending office actions • 2 art units • 4 examiners • 0 of 5 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 10 patents granted in the last 365 days
Atotech Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG is managing 5 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These actions are distributed across 2 distinct art units, suggesting that the company's current filings are concentrated in a few specific technical domains. The prosecution involves 4 distinct examiners, which provides a variety of examiner interactions across the active matters. This spread across 4 distinct examiners indicates that the portfolio's success is not tied to a single individual's review process, offering some protection against examiner-specific biases.
EDNA WONG is the busiest examiner for the portfolio, currently handling 2 busiest examiner pending office actions. This represents a significant portion of the 5 total pending office actions, although the other actions are spread among other examiners. The use of 2 distinct art units indicates that while the examiners vary, the technical focus remains relatively narrow. Practitioners can expect to engage with multiple officials to resolve the current workload in the Chemistry & Materials sector, requiring a flexible but technically consistent legal approach.
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 | 1 (20%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 4 (80%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WONG, EDNA | 2 | 58.4% | -19.7% |
| DUCLAIR, STEPHANIE P. | 1 | 72.2% | +19.6% |
| RIPA, BRYAN D | 1 | 53.9% | +37.2% |
| CARLEY, JEFFREY T. | 1 | 74.0% | +26.5% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18866177 | METHOD FOR NANO ETCHING OF COPPER AND COPPER ALLOY SURFACES | DUCLAIR, STEPHANIE P. | — |
| 18570742 | METHOD FOR OXIDIZING MANGANESE SPECIES IN A TREATMENT DEVICE | RIPA, BRYAN D | — |
| 18568352 | METHOD FOR ELECTRODEPOSITING A DARK CHROMIUM LAYER, SUBSTRATE COMPRISING SAME, AND ELECTROPLATING BATH THEREOF | WONG, EDNA | — |
| 18550145 | MODIFIED COPPER SURFACE, HETEROAROMATIC SILANE COMPOUNDS AND THEIR USAGE FOR INCREASING ADHESION STRENGTH BETWEEN COPPER AND AN ORGANIC MATERIAL AND REDUCING HALO AND WEDGE VOID FORMATION | CARLEY, JEFFREY T. | — |
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 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18866177 | METHOD FOR NANO ETCHING OF COPPER AND COPPER ALLOY SURFACES | DUCLAIR, STEPHANIE P. | — |
| 18570742 | METHOD FOR OXIDIZING MANGANESE SPECIES IN A TREATMENT DEVICE | RIPA, BRYAN D | — |
| 18550145 | MODIFIED COPPER SURFACE, HETEROAROMATIC SILANE COMPOUNDS AND THEIR USAGE FOR INCREASING ADHESION STRENGTH BETWEEN COPPER AND AN ORGANIC MATERIAL AND REDUCING HALO AND WEDGE VOID FORMATION | CARLEY, JEFFREY T. | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1784 | 1 |
| 1795 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18866177 | METHOD FOR NANO ETCHING OF COPPER AND COPPER ALLOY SURFACES | DUCLAIR, STEPHANIE P. | 1784 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 15, 2024 |
| 18570742 | METHOD FOR OXIDIZING MANGANESE SPECIES IN A TREATMENT DEVICE | RIPA, BRYAN D | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 15, 2023 |
| 18568394 | METHOD FOR ADJUSTING THE BRIGHTNESS L* OF AN ELECTROPLATED CHROMIUM LAYER | WONG, EDNA | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 08, 2023 |
| 18568352 | METHOD FOR ELECTRODEPOSITING A DARK CHROMIUM LAYER, SUBSTRATE COMPRISING SAME, AND ELECTROPLATING BATH THEREOF | WONG, EDNA | 1795 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 08, 2023 |
| 18550145 | MODIFIED COPPER SURFACE, HETEROAROMATIC SILANE COMPOUNDS AND THEIR USAGE FOR INCREASING ADHESION STRENGTH BETWEEN COPPER AND AN ORGANIC MATERIAL AND REDUCING HALO AND WEDGE VOID FORMATION | CARLEY, JEFFREY T. | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 12, 2023 |
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