Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
1 pending office actions • 1 art units • 1 examiners • 0 of 1 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 2 patents granted in the last 365 days
China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co. Ltd. currently manages 1 pending office action within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. This matter is being handled by examiner SPARKS, RUSSELL E, who is also identified as the busiest examiner for the portfolio with 1 pending action. The concentration of work is high, as the portfolio involves only 1 distinct examiner and 1 distinct art unit.
This narrow distribution suggests a highly focused prosecution strategy or a very early-stage portfolio. Because all activity is limited to 1 distinct art unit, the company faces a singular set of examination standards and procedural norms. Practitioners should note that the entire pending workload rests with SPARKS, RUSSELL E, making this individual the primary point of contact for the company's current patent efforts.
The lack of diversity in examiners means the portfolio's progress is entirely dependent on the specific throughput and tendencies of a single office official. For a company in Chemistry & Materials, this centralization can simplify communication but increases the impact of a single examiner's perspective. This structure requires precise alignment with the examiner's technical interpretations to ensure successful outcomes across the portfolio.
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 |
|---|---|
| §112 only | 1 (100%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPARKS, RUSSELL E | 1 | 64.1% | +14.0% |
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 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18556066 | AEROSOL GENERATING ARTICLE CAPABLE OF REGULATING RELEASE OF FLAVOR SUBSTANCE, AND METHOD THEREOF | SPARKS, RUSSELL E | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1755 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18556066 | AEROSOL GENERATING ARTICLE CAPABLE OF REGULATING RELEASE OF FLAVOR SUBSTANCE, AND METHOD THEREOF | SPARKS, RUSSELL E | 1755 | §112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 18, 2023 |
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Start Free TrialChina Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co. Ltd. has 1 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 1 art units and 1 examiners.
Russell E Sparks has the most, with 1 of China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Co. Ltd.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Chemistry & Materials (USPTO Tech Center 1700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
