Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
16 pending office actions • 6 art units • 12 examiners • 0 of 16 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 24 patents granted in the last 365 days
Columbia Insurance Company currently manages 14 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed among 10 distinct examiners and 6 distinct art units. This indicates that some examiners are handling multiple cases, creating a slight concentration within the portfolio.
The busiest examiner for the company is DURHAM, NATHAN E, who is currently overseeing 2 pending actions. With 6 distinct art units involved, the 14 pending office actions cover a variety of technical subjects within the mechanical engineering field. Practitioners should focus on the specific examination styles of the 10 distinct examiners, particularly DURHAM, NATHAN E, who manages more than one of the 14 pending office actions. The presence of 6 distinct art units means that while the examiners are different, there is some grouping of technical subject matter. Strategy should be tailored to the 10 distinct examiners while keeping in mind the broader procedural trends within the 6 distinct art units that oversee these 14 pending office actions to ensure consistency across the portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 3 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. 3 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 | 2 (12%) |
| §112 only | 1 (6%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (6%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 3 (19%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 8 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DURHAM, NATHAN E | 2 | 65.9% | +17.4% |
| PRANGE, SHARON M | 2 | 54.2% | +46.6% |
| MCKINNON, LASHAWNDA T | 2 | 53.9% | +30.2% |
| CAI, WENWEN | 2 | 59.8% | +19.4% |
| IMANI, ELIZABETH MARY COLE | 1 | 33.5% | +25.0% |
| PIERCE, JEREMY R | 1 | 56.8% | +43.2% |
| LYNCH, MEGAN E | 1 | 38.2% | +40.0% |
| MCCALL, ERIC SCOTT | 1 | 87.8% | +6.3% |
| PATEL, TAJASH D | 1 | 80.8% | +7.3% |
| GRAY, SUNGHEE Y | 1 | 83.2% | +10.8% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18819639 | Devices, Systems And Methods For Flooring Performance Testing | MCCALL, ERIC SCOTT | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18892851 | VAMP CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING THE SAME | LYNCH, MEGAN E | 36d overdue |
| 19210270 | Interchangeable Foreparts for Shoes | PRANGE, SHARON M | 26d overdue |
| 18391824 | Adjusted Color Prescriptions for Aqueous Coating Compositions to Correct Gloss Differences | GRAY, SUNGHEE Y | 16d |
| 19339830 | PATTERNED TUFTED ARTICLES, SURFACE COVERINGS COMPRISING SAME, AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING SAME | DURHAM, NATHAN E | — |
| 18985611 | CARPETS HAVING AN IMPROVED DELAMINATION STRENGTH AND FLUID BARRIER PROPERTIES AND METHODS OF MAKING SAME | MCKINNON, LASHAWNDA T | — |
| 18812214 | Patterned Tufted Articles, Surface Coverings Comprising Same, And Systems And Methods Of Making And Using Same | DURHAM, NATHAN E | — |
| 18800226 | Methods And Devices For Transporting Yarn | PATEL, TAJASH D | — |
| 18644264 | Reversible Multi-Purpose Liner | PRANGE, SHARON M | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18892851 | VAMP CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING THE SAME | LYNCH, MEGAN E | 36d overdue |
| 19210270 | Interchangeable Foreparts for Shoes | PRANGE, SHARON M | 26d overdue |
| 18391824 | Adjusted Color Prescriptions for Aqueous Coating Compositions to Correct Gloss Differences | GRAY, SUNGHEE Y | 16d |
| 19548530 | SHOCK PAD FOR SYNTHETIC TURF AND METHODS OF MAKING SAME | IMANI, ELIZABETH MARY COLE | — |
| 19339830 | PATTERNED TUFTED ARTICLES, SURFACE COVERINGS COMPRISING SAME, AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING SAME | DURHAM, NATHAN E | — |
| 19026905 | Novel Artificial Turf and Methods of Making Same | PIERCE, JEREMY R | — |
| 18985611 | CARPETS HAVING AN IMPROVED DELAMINATION STRENGTH AND FLUID BARRIER PROPERTIES AND METHODS OF MAKING SAME | MCKINNON, LASHAWNDA T | — |
| 18828637 | Artificial Turf And Associated Devices And Methods For Making Same | MCKINNON, LASHAWNDA T | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3732 | 6 |
| 1789 | 1 |
| 2855 | 1 |
| 2877 | 1 |
| 1774 | 1 |
| 1759 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19548530 | SHOCK PAD FOR SYNTHETIC TURF AND METHODS OF MAKING SAME | IMANI, ELIZABETH MARY COLE | 1789 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 24, 2026 |
| 19339830 | PATTERNED TUFTED ARTICLES, SURFACE COVERINGS COMPRISING SAME, AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING SAME | DURHAM, NATHAN E | 3732 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 25, 2025 |
| 19210270 | Interchangeable Foreparts for Shoes | PRANGE, SHARON M | 3732 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 26d overdue | Pending | May 16, 2025 |
| 19026905 | Novel Artificial Turf and Methods of Making Same | PIERCE, JEREMY R | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 17, 2025 |
| 18985611 | CARPETS HAVING AN IMPROVED DELAMINATION STRENGTH AND FLUID BARRIER PROPERTIES AND METHODS OF MAKING SAME | MCKINNON, LASHAWNDA T | — | §103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 18, 2024 |
| 18892851 | VAMP CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING THE SAME | LYNCH, MEGAN E | 3732 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | 36d overdue | Pending | Sep 23, 2024 |
| 18828637 | Artificial Turf And Associated Devices And Methods For Making Same | MCKINNON, LASHAWNDA T | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 09, 2024 |
| 18819639 | Devices, Systems And Methods For Flooring Performance Testing | MCCALL, ERIC SCOTT | 2855 | §112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 29, 2024 |
| 18812214 | Patterned Tufted Articles, Surface Coverings Comprising Same, And Systems And Methods Of Making And Using Same | DURHAM, NATHAN E | 3732 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 22, 2024 |
| 18800226 | Methods And Devices For Transporting Yarn | PATEL, TAJASH D | 3732 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 12, 2024 |
| 18644264 | Reversible Multi-Purpose Liner | PRANGE, SHARON M | 3732 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 24, 2024 |
| 18689601 | STAIN BLOCKING ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITIONS WITH CATIONIC RESIN AND NONIONIC RESIN BLENDS | CAI, WENWEN | — | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 06, 2024 |
| 18689659 | NONIONIC RESINS AND THEIR USES IN STAIN BLOCKING ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITIONS | CAI, WENWEN | — | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 06, 2024 |
| 18391824 | Adjusted Color Prescriptions for Aqueous Coating Compositions to Correct Gloss Differences | GRAY, SUNGHEE Y | 2877 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 16d | Pending | Dec 21, 2023 |
| 18546840 | PASTEURIZATION OF ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITIONS WITH ELEVATED HEAT AND METHODS THEREFOR | CLEVELAND, TIMOTHY C | 1774 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 17, 2023 |
| 18223268 | BIO-BASED MONOMERS AND POLYMERS MADE THEREFROM | BLAND, ALICIA | 1759 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 18, 2023 |
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