Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
2 pending office actions • 2 art units • 2 examiners • 0 of 2 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 2 patents granted in the last 365 days
Clear Ballot Group Inc. currently has 2 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These 2 pending office actions are distributed between 2 distinct examiners. Furthermore, these examiners are located in 2 distinct art units, showing a complete lack of administrative overlap in the current portfolio. The use of 2 distinct art units suggests that the 2 pending office actions may involve different technical sub-specialties.
The busiest examiner, HIGGINS, GERARD T, is handling 1 busiest examiner pending action. This accounts for a portion of the total workload, as each of the 2 distinct examiners is managing one action. This distribution requires the company to manage two separate examiner-art unit combinations simultaneously. Practitioners must tailor their approach to the specific expectations of HIGGINS, GERARD T for his 1 busiest examiner pending action.
The presence of 2 distinct examiners across 2 distinct art units necessitates a coordinated but flexible prosecution strategy. The company must address the unique feedback from each examiner to resolve the 2 pending office actions. This structure ensures that no single examiner has total control over the current Chemistry & Materials portfolio. Success will depend on meeting the specific expectations of both HIGGINS, GERARD T and the other assigned examiner.
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 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIGGINS, GERARD T | 1 | 63.3% | +39.4% |
| LEGESSE, HENOK D | 1 | 86.4% | +2.2% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17818260 | Full-Face Ballot Printing Using Thermal Technology | LEGESSE, HENOK D | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18601958 | Double-Sided Thermal Ballot Stock | HIGGINS, GERARD T | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1785 | 1 |
| 2853 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18601958 | Double-Sided Thermal Ballot Stock | HIGGINS, GERARD T | 1785 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 11, 2024 |
| 17818260 | Full-Face Ballot Printing Using Thermal Technology | LEGESSE, HENOK D | 2853 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 08, 2022 |
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