Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 04, 2026

Castrol Limited

Technology area: Chemistry & Materials

3 pending office actions • 3 art units • 3 examiners • 0 of 3 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 6 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Castrol Limited has 3 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These actions are assigned to 3 distinct examiners, ensuring that each pending matter is reviewed by a unique individual. The portfolio also spans 3 distinct art units, which suggests that the company's current chemistry and materials innovations are technically diverse enough to be classified into three separate administrative groups. This variety indicates a broad front of active prosecution for the company.

The busiest examiner for the portfolio is DOUYETTE, KENNETH J, who holds 1 pending office action. Because the busiest examiner pending count is 1, the 3 pending office actions are distributed equally among the examiners. For a practitioner, this means that the prosecution strategy must be adapted to different examiners and art units. The presence of 3 distinct examiners and 3 distinct art units requires a multi-faceted approach to address the specific technical and procedural nuances of each individual pending matter.

Written from this page's own data; every figure is computed from USPTO records and verified before publication.

Portfolio Summary

3
Total Pending OAs
3
Non-Final OAs
0
Final Rejections
0
Advisory / Quayle

Case Difficulty Mix

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.

1
Hard (33%)
1
Medium (33%)
1
Easy (33%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§112 only1 (33%)
Double-patenting + other1 (33%)
Multi-statute (no §101)1 (33%)

Industry Mix

How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.

3
Life Sciences
100% of docket
0
Information Tech
0% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
0
Semiconductors
0% of docket
0
Mechanical / Eng
0% of docket
0
Business / Other
0% of docket

Time-on-OA Estimate

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.

30 h
Manual time on pending OAs
6 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
10 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
0.3 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
SLIFKA, COLIN W 1 67.2% +16.2%
DOUYETTE, KENNETH J 1 81.8% +14.4%
CHEN, NING 1 0.0% +0.0%

Quick Wins (1)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18284855 HEAT TRANSFER SYSTEM WITH HEAT TRANSFER FLUID INCLUDING LIQUID AND GAS COMPONENTS DOUYETTE, KENNETH J —

Hard Cases (1)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18547812 Dielectric Thermal Management Fluids and Methods for Using Them CHEN, NING —

Interview Candidates (2)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18284856 Heat Transfer System with Heat Transfer Fluid Including Liquid and Gas Components SLIFKA, COLIN W —
18284855 HEAT TRANSFER SYSTEM WITH HEAT TRANSFER FLUID INCLUDING LIQUID AND GAS COMPONENTS DOUYETTE, KENNETH J —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
1732 1
1725 1
1723 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
18284856 Heat Transfer System with Heat Transfer Fluid Including Liquid and Gas Components SLIFKA, COLIN W 1732 §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 28, 2023
18284855 HEAT TRANSFER SYSTEM WITH HEAT TRANSFER FLUID INCLUDING LIQUID AND GAS COMPONENTS DOUYETTE, KENNETH J 1725 §102§103DP Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 28, 2023
18547812 Dielectric Thermal Management Fluids and Methods for Using Them CHEN, NING 1723 §103§112Other Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 24, 2023

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