Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
2 pending office actions • 1 art units • 2 examiners • 0 of 2 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 1 patents granted in the last 365 days
The BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY is currently managing 2 pending office actions within the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals technology area. This level of activity represents a focused effort to advance specific academic or research-driven innovations through the federal patent system. The concentration of these efforts within a single technology area suggests a specialized research priority.
The prosecution of these matters involves 2 distinct examiners, providing a degree of variety in the feedback received from the USPTO. However, both examiners are situated within 1 distinct art unit, which implies that the technical subject matter is highly consistent across the pending applications. This concentration in one art unit means that while individual examiner temperaments may vary, the underlying technical standards and prior art references applied to the 2 pending office actions are likely to be similar.
RYAN, DOUGLAS CHARLES is the busiest examiner for this portfolio, with 1 pending office action currently assigned. Since this examiner handles half of the company's active workload, their specific interpretation of biotechnology patentability will significantly influence the university's immediate success. The presence of 2 distinct examiners within 1 distinct art unit allows the university to compare different examination styles while navigating a unified technical landscape.
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 (50%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (50%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| RYAN, DOUGLAS CHARLES | 1 | 39.2% | +47.6% |
| EPSTEIN, TODD MATTHEW | 1 | 60.9% | +43.4% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18699523 | Compositions and Methods for Treating Cag Repeat Diseases | RYAN, DOUGLAS CHARLES | — |
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 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18699523 | Compositions and Methods for Treating Cag Repeat Diseases | RYAN, DOUGLAS CHARLES | — |
| 18692182 | ENGINEERED MICROBES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIOPOLYMERS FROM OHD-DERIVED ORGANIC CARBON | EPSTEIN, TODD MATTHEW | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1652 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18699523 | Compositions and Methods for Treating Cag Repeat Diseases | RYAN, DOUGLAS CHARLES | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 08, 2024 |
| 18692182 | ENGINEERED MICROBES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIOPOLYMERS FROM OHD-DERIVED ORGANIC CARBON | EPSTEIN, TODD MATTHEW | 1652 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 14, 2024 |
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