Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
13 pending office actions • 3 art units • 10 examiners • 0 of 13 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 9 patents granted in the last 365 days
Backbone Labs Inc. has 11 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These matters are distributed across 2 distinct art units, which indicates a high density of filings within a narrow range of technical classifications. This structure often results in examiners within the same 2 distinct art units reviewing multiple applications from the company, potentially leading to a more unified examination experience.
The portfolio is managed by 9 distinct examiners, showing a varied distribution of workload across the patent office. MCCULLOCH JR, WILLIAM H is the busiest examiner, currently handling 2 busiest examiner pending actions. With 11 total pending office actions, the majority of the company's prosecution is spread across the remaining 9 distinct examiners. This variety of officials suggests that the company must adapt its strategy to 9 different individual perspectives within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering sector.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| §101 + other | 2 (15%) |
| §103 only | 4 (31%) |
| §102 only | 1 (8%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (8%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (38%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCCULLOCH JR, WILLIAM H | 2 | 54.3% | +33.8% |
| LIDDLE, JAY TRENT | 2 | 57.8% | +22.9% |
| LEICHLITER, CHASE E | 2 | 64.5% | +23.3% |
| POLLOCK, ZACHARY JOSEPH | 1 | 26.5% | +39.6% |
| DOSHI, ANKIT B | 1 | 67.0% | +22.3% |
| MCCLELLAN, JAMES S | 1 | 78.9% | +13.8% |
| BLAISE, MALINA D | 1 | 57.5% | +38.8% |
| CARDONE, JASON D | 1 | 86.9% | -1.9% |
| HARRIS, DOROTHY H | 1 | 63.2% | +21.9% |
| HARPER, TRAMAR YONG | 1 | 65.5% | +23.9% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18739527 | System and Method for Automatic Content Capability Detection | CARDONE, JASON D | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 7 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18369000 | Mobile Game Controller with Floating Magnetic Connector | MCCULLOCH JR, WILLIAM H | 36d overdue |
| 18967940 | Game Controller for a Mobile Device with Extended Bumper Button | POLLOCK, ZACHARY JOSEPH | — |
| 18945830 | Mobile Game Controller with a Magnetic Connector | MCCULLOCH JR, WILLIAM H | — |
| 18746611 | Custom TouchSync Editor for a Game Controller | LEICHLITER, CHASE E | — |
| 18388922 | Virtual Game Controller | LEICHLITER, CHASE E | — |
| 18242672 | Hardware-Initiated Overlay Actions for a User-Input Element Such as a Software Service Button | LIDDLE, JAY TRENT | — |
| 18214917 | Game Controller with Play-on-Any-Screen Feature | HARPER, TRAMAR YONG | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18369000 | Mobile Game Controller with Floating Magnetic Connector | MCCULLOCH JR, WILLIAM H | 36d overdue |
| 18967940 | Game Controller for a Mobile Device with Extended Bumper Button | POLLOCK, ZACHARY JOSEPH | — |
| 18945830 | Mobile Game Controller with a Magnetic Connector | MCCULLOCH JR, WILLIAM H | — |
| 18915648 | Game Controller for a Mobile Device with a Flat Flex Connector | DOSHI, ANKIT B | — |
| 18915580 | Game Controller with Magnetic Wireless Connector | LIDDLE, JAY TRENT | — |
| 18805902 | Ergonomic and Device Retention Solutions for a Handheld Game Controller | MCCLELLAN, JAMES S | — |
| 18777919 | Handheld Controller with Contact Zone for Constraining Mobile Devices of Differing Sizes | BLAISE, MALINA D | — |
| 18746611 | Custom TouchSync Editor for a Game Controller | LEICHLITER, CHASE E | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3715 | 7 |
| 2458 | 1 |
| 2625 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18967940 | Game Controller for a Mobile Device with Extended Bumper Button | POLLOCK, ZACHARY JOSEPH | — | §103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 04, 2024 |
| 18945830 | Mobile Game Controller with a Magnetic Connector | MCCULLOCH JR, WILLIAM H | — | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 13, 2024 |
| 18915648 | Game Controller for a Mobile Device with a Flat Flex Connector | DOSHI, ANKIT B | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 15, 2024 |
| 18915580 | Game Controller with Magnetic Wireless Connector | LIDDLE, JAY TRENT | — | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 15, 2024 |
| 18805902 | Ergonomic and Device Retention Solutions for a Handheld Game Controller | MCCLELLAN, JAMES S | 3715 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 15, 2024 |
| 18777919 | Handheld Controller with Contact Zone for Constraining Mobile Devices of Differing Sizes | BLAISE, MALINA D | 3715 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 19, 2024 |
| 18746611 | Custom TouchSync Editor for a Game Controller | LEICHLITER, CHASE E | 3715 | §101§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 18, 2024 |
| 18739527 | System and Method for Automatic Content Capability Detection | CARDONE, JASON D | 2458 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 11, 2024 |
| 18388922 | Virtual Game Controller | LEICHLITER, CHASE E | 3715 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 13, 2023 |
| 18369000 | Mobile Game Controller with Floating Magnetic Connector | MCCULLOCH JR, WILLIAM H | 3715 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 36d overdue | Pending | Sep 15, 2023 |
| 18242672 | Hardware-Initiated Overlay Actions for a User-Input Element Such as a Software Service Button | LIDDLE, JAY TRENT | 3715 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 06, 2023 |
| 18226883 | Platform-Customized Mobile Game Controller and Methods for Use Therewith | HARRIS, DOROTHY H | 2625 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 27, 2023 |
| 18214917 | Game Controller with Play-on-Any-Screen Feature | HARPER, TRAMAR YONG | 3715 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 27, 2023 |
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