Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals • Chemistry & Materials
12 pending office actions • 8 art units • 12 examiners • 0 of 12 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 8 patents granted in the last 365 days
Bühler AG currently has 12 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These actions are handled by 12 distinct examiners, which indicates that no two pending matters are being reviewed by the same person. This high level of examiner diversity is coupled with a spread across 8 distinct art units, suggesting that the company's chemical and material innovations span a wide range of technical classifications.
The busiest examiner for this portfolio is BECKER, DREW E, who is responsible for 1 pending office action. Because the busiest examiner only manages a single action, the 12 pending office actions are entirely fragmented across the patent office's staff. This requires the applicant to manage many separate examiner relationships and adapt to different styles of feedback. The 8 distinct art units further complicate this by introducing various departmental standards within the Chemistry & Materials sector.
Managing 12 pending office actions in this environment requires a highly organized approach to ensure that arguments made to one of the 12 distinct examiners do not conflict with those made to another. Since BECKER, DREW E and the other examiners each hold only one case, there is no opportunity to consolidate responses under a single individual. Practitioners must navigate the 8 distinct art units carefully to maintain a consistent intellectual property strategy across the entire Bühler AG portfolio.
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 |
|---|---|
| §102 only | 1 (8%) |
| §112 only | 1 (8%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (8%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 9 (75%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BECKER, DREW E | 1 | 49.0% | +0.2% |
| LEFF, STEVEN N | 1 | 41.3% | +7.9% |
| DUBOIS, PHILIP A | 1 | 25.5% | +26.3% |
| BHATIA, ANSHU | 1 | 84.2% | +17.2% |
| STEPHENS, MATTHEW | 1 | 65.5% | +22.6% |
| AHMED ALI, MOHAMED K | 1 | 71.0% | +26.9% |
| SZUMNY, JONATHON A | 1 | 57.4% | +57.1% |
| TIMILSINA, SHARAD | 1 | 74.4% | +11.1% |
| LOPEZLIRA, ASHLEY NICOLE | 1 | 71.2% | +42.0% |
| MCKNIGHT, CIARA A | 1 | 60.8% | +38.8% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18004838 | DOSE MEASURING DEVICE FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF A RADIATION DOSE AND MEASUREMENT METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE RADIATION DOSE APPLIED DURING PASTEURIZATION AND/OR STERILIZATION OF PARTICULATE MATERIAL | HO, ALLEN C | 198d overdue |
| 18832398 | TWO-STEP COOKING | BECKER, DREW E | — |
| 18723127 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FORMING A PRODUCT THAT IMITATES PROPERTIES OF MEAT, POULTRY, FISH, SEAFOOD, DAIRY PRODUCTS, OR PRODUCTS DERIVED THEREFROM | LEFF, STEVEN N | — |
| 18723116 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FORMING A PRODUCT THAT IMITATES PROPERTIES OF MEAT, POULTRY, FISH, SEAFOOD, OR PRODUCTS DERIVED THEREFROM | DUBOIS, PHILIP A | — |
| 18720817 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING AND CONTROLLING PRODUCTION OF VISCOUS MATERIAL SUCH AS BATTERY PASTE FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION | BHATIA, ANSHU | — |
| 18718705 | HAMMER CAGE | STEPHENS, MATTHEW | — |
| 18713412 | FOOD PRODUCT AND DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME | AHMED ALI, MOHAMED K | — |
| 18697282 | IMPACT RING AND IMPROVED DEHULLING DEVICE | SZUMNY, JONATHON A | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18723116 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FORMING A PRODUCT THAT IMITATES PROPERTIES OF MEAT, POULTRY, FISH, SEAFOOD, OR PRODUCTS DERIVED THEREFROM | DUBOIS, PHILIP A | — |
| 18720817 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING AND CONTROLLING PRODUCTION OF VISCOUS MATERIAL SUCH AS BATTERY PASTE FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION | BHATIA, ANSHU | — |
| 18718705 | HAMMER CAGE | STEPHENS, MATTHEW | — |
| 18713412 | FOOD PRODUCT AND DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME | AHMED ALI, MOHAMED K | — |
| 18697282 | IMPACT RING AND IMPROVED DEHULLING DEVICE | SZUMNY, JONATHON A | — |
| 18570359 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF OPTIMIZED TREATMENT CONDITIONS FOR TREATING CELLS WITH ELECTRIC PULSES | TIMILSINA, SHARAD | — |
| 18548455 | DEVICE WITH AN INSERT FOR TREATING CELL MATERIAL | LOPEZLIRA, ASHLEY NICOLE | — |
| 18266274 | PULSED ELECTRIC FIELD TREATMENT OF BIOLOGICAL CELLS | MCKNIGHT, CIARA A | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1791 | 3 |
| 1792 | 1 |
| 3725 | 1 |
| 1653 | 1 |
| 1799 | 1 |
| 1656 | 1 |
| 3642 | 1 |
| 2884 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18832398 | TWO-STEP COOKING | BECKER, DREW E | — | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 23, 2024 |
| 18723127 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FORMING A PRODUCT THAT IMITATES PROPERTIES OF MEAT, POULTRY, FISH, SEAFOOD, DAIRY PRODUCTS, OR PRODUCTS DERIVED THEREFROM | LEFF, STEVEN N | 1792 | §102§103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 21, 2024 |
| 18723116 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FORMING A PRODUCT THAT IMITATES PROPERTIES OF MEAT, POULTRY, FISH, SEAFOOD, OR PRODUCTS DERIVED THEREFROM | DUBOIS, PHILIP A | 1791 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 21, 2024 |
| 18720817 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING AND CONTROLLING PRODUCTION OF VISCOUS MATERIAL SUCH AS BATTERY PASTE FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION | BHATIA, ANSHU | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 17, 2024 |
| 18718705 | HAMMER CAGE | STEPHENS, MATTHEW | 3725 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 11, 2024 |
| 18713412 | FOOD PRODUCT AND DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME | AHMED ALI, MOHAMED K | 1791 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 24, 2024 |
| 18697282 | IMPACT RING AND IMPROVED DEHULLING DEVICE | SZUMNY, JONATHON A | 1791 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 29, 2024 |
| 18570359 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF OPTIMIZED TREATMENT CONDITIONS FOR TREATING CELLS WITH ELECTRIC PULSES | TIMILSINA, SHARAD | 1653 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 14, 2023 |
| 18548455 | DEVICE WITH AN INSERT FOR TREATING CELL MATERIAL | LOPEZLIRA, ASHLEY NICOLE | 1799 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 30, 2023 |
| 18266274 | PULSED ELECTRIC FIELD TREATMENT OF BIOLOGICAL CELLS | MCKNIGHT, CIARA A | 1656 | §103DP | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 09, 2023 |
| 18256165 | CLEANING SYSTEM, CONVEYING DEVICE AND SEPARATING DEVICE FOR INSECTS OR WORMS AND CORRESPONDING METHODS | MUDD, HENRY HOOPER | 3642 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 06, 2023 |
| 18004838 | DOSE MEASURING DEVICE FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF A RADIATION DOSE AND MEASUREMENT METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE RADIATION DOSE APPLIED DURING PASTEURIZATION AND/OR STERILIZATION OF PARTICULATE MATERIAL | HO, ALLEN C | 2884 | §102§112 | Final Rejection | 198d overdue | Pending | Jan 09, 2023 |
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