Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
17 pending office actions • 9 art units • 13 examiners • 0 of 17 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 16 patents granted in the last 365 days
British American Tobacco plc has 17 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These actions are distributed across 9 distinct art units, reflecting a variety of chemical and material innovations. The involvement of 13 distinct examiners suggests that some examiners are handling multiple cases within the portfolio, providing opportunities for more efficient prosecution through examiner-specific insights.
Yana B Krinker is the busiest examiner for this company, currently managing 5 pending office actions. This is a high level of concentration, as Yana B Krinker alone is responsible for a portion of the 17 pending cases. With 13 distinct examiners and 9 distinct art units involved, the company can focus its efforts on key individuals like Yana B Krinker while still managing the rest of the 17 pending cases to ensure that its material science innovations are effectively protected.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 8 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. 8 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 + other | 1 (6%) |
| §103 only | 9 (53%) |
| §102 only | 1 (6%) |
| §112 only | 1 (6%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (6%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 4 (24%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KRINKER, YANA B | 5 | 58.5% | +31.6% |
| NEWAY, BLAINE GIRMA | 1 | 30.2% | +39.8% |
| CHEUNG, CHUN HOI | 1 | 62.4% | +39.2% |
| KHONG, BRIAN THAI-BINH | 1 | 67.1% | +36.9% |
| TRAN, SCOTT THANH BINH | 1 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| SZEWCZYK, CYNTHIA | 1 | 73.7% | +10.1% |
| FELTON, MICHAEL J | 1 | 59.9% | +14.1% |
| PHAM, VU PHI | 1 | 46.2% | +17.1% |
| FAN, WEIHUA | 1 | 83.4% | +12.6% |
| MAYES, DIONNE WALLS | 1 | 64.3% | +27.0% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17995675 | METHOD | FAN, WEIHUA | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15754818 | APPARATUS FOR HEATING SMOKABLE MATERIAL | KRINKER, YANA B | 3d overdue |
| 16755511 | AEROSOLIZABLE PRODUCT | KRINKER, YANA B | 6d |
| 18262786 | VAPING ARTICLE DESIGN SYSTEM AND METHOD | TRAN, SCOTT THANH BINH | — |
| 17928664 | A COMPONENT FOR A DELIVERY SYSTEM AND A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING A COMPONENT FOR A DELIVERY SYSTEM | PHAM, VU PHI | — |
| 17426139 | Apparatus and Method for Transferring Pods of a Consumable Unit for an Inhalation Device from a Storage Tray to a Machine Cassette of a Consumable Unit Manufacturing Device | EFTA, ALEX B | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16666508 | INHALATION DEVICE AND COMPONENT FOR AN INHALATION DEVICE | KRINKER, YANA B | 18d overdue |
| 16632566 | Tobacco constituent releasing components | KRINKER, YANA B | 4d overdue |
| 15754818 | APPARATUS FOR HEATING SMOKABLE MATERIAL | KRINKER, YANA B | 3d overdue |
| 16755511 | AEROSOLIZABLE PRODUCT | KRINKER, YANA B | 6d |
| 18006814 | MODULAR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING A CONSUMABLE UNIT FOR AN INHALATION DEVICE AND METHOD FOR RECONFIGURING SAID APPARATUS | SZEWCZYK, CYNTHIA | 8d |
| 18152916 | METHOD OF EXTRACTING VOLATILE COMPOUNDS FROM TOBACCO MATERIAL | FELTON, MICHAEL J | 20d |
| 18730181 | A PACKAGE | CHEUNG, CHUN HOI | 50d |
| 19157637 | A HINGED-LID PACK | NEWAY, BLAINE GIRMA | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1755 | 8 |
| 3735 | 1 |
| 3736 | 1 |
| 3785 | 1 |
| 1741 | 1 |
| 1747 | 1 |
| 1663 | 1 |
| 1700 | 1 |
| 1745 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19157637 | A HINGED-LID PACK | NEWAY, BLAINE GIRMA | 3735 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 18, 2025 |
| 18730181 | A PACKAGE | CHEUNG, CHUN HOI | 3736 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 50d | Pending | Jul 18, 2024 |
| 18525251 | APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AN INHALABLE MEDIUM | KHONG, BRIAN THAI-BINH | 3785 | §103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 30, 2023 |
| 18262786 | VAPING ARTICLE DESIGN SYSTEM AND METHOD | TRAN, SCOTT THANH BINH | — | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 25, 2023 |
| 18006814 | MODULAR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING A CONSUMABLE UNIT FOR AN INHALATION DEVICE AND METHOD FOR RECONFIGURING SAID APPARATUS | SZEWCZYK, CYNTHIA | 1741 | §103 | Final Rejection | 8d | Pending | Jan 25, 2023 |
| 18152916 | METHOD OF EXTRACTING VOLATILE COMPOUNDS FROM TOBACCO MATERIAL | FELTON, MICHAEL J | 1747 | §102 | Non-Final OA | 20d | Pending | Jan 11, 2023 |
| 17928664 | A COMPONENT FOR A DELIVERY SYSTEM AND A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING A COMPONENT FOR A DELIVERY SYSTEM | PHAM, VU PHI | 1755 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 30, 2022 |
| 17995675 | METHOD | FAN, WEIHUA | 1663 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 06, 2022 |
| 17782969 | DELIVERY SYSTEMS | MAYES, DIONNE WALLS | 1700 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 06, 2022 |
| 17633954 | MOUTHPIECE FOR AN ARTICLE FOR USE IN AN AEROSOL PROVISION SYSTEM AND AN ARTICLE FOR USE IN AN AEROSOL PROVISION SYSTEM | MARTIN, JOHN MITCHELL | 1755 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 08, 2022 |
| 17601644 | SMOKING ARTICLE | SZUMIGALSKI, NICOLE ASHLEY | 1755 | §103 | Final Rejection | 26d | Pending | Oct 05, 2021 |
| 17426139 | Apparatus and Method for Transferring Pods of a Consumable Unit for an Inhalation Device from a Storage Tray to a Machine Cassette of a Consumable Unit Manufacturing Device | EFTA, ALEX B | 1745 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 28, 2021 |
| 16957983 | Material for Inclusion in a Smoking Article | KRINKER, YANA B | 1755 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 25, 2020 |
| 16755511 | AEROSOLIZABLE PRODUCT | KRINKER, YANA B | 1755 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 6d | Pending | Apr 10, 2020 |
| 16632566 | Tobacco constituent releasing components | KRINKER, YANA B | 1755 | §103 | Final Rejection | 4d overdue | Pending | Jan 21, 2020 |
| 16666508 | INHALATION DEVICE AND COMPONENT FOR AN INHALATION DEVICE | KRINKER, YANA B | 1755 | §103 | Final Rejection | 18d overdue | Pending | Oct 29, 2019 |
| 15754818 | APPARATUS FOR HEATING SMOKABLE MATERIAL | KRINKER, YANA B | 1755 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 3d overdue | Pending | Feb 23, 2018 |
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