Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
11 pending office actions • 5 art units • 9 examiners • 0 of 11 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 13 patents granted in the last 365 days
Cymer LLC is managing 10 pending office actions within the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area. These actions are distributed among 8 distinct examiners, which implies that some examiners are handling multiple cases for the company. The portfolio spans 4 distinct art units, showing a moderate level of technical diversity within its specialized field. This distribution requires a legal strategy that can adapt to different examining groups while maintaining consistency across the 10 pending matters.
The busiest examiner for Cymer LLC is MENEFEE, JAMES A, who is responsible for 2 pending office actions. This concentration of 2 actions with a single examiner provides a small opportunity for consistent advocacy across multiple applications. However, with 8 distinct examiners in total, the majority of the 10 pending office actions will require individualized approaches tailored to different examiner styles. The presence of 4 distinct art units suggests that the company's semiconductor innovations are being reviewed by several specialized teams, each potentially applying different examination standards.
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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 2 (18%) |
| §102 only | 1 (9%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (9%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 7 (64%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MENEFEE, JAMES A | 2 | 78.9% | +12.1% |
| VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | 2 | 54.2% | +38.1% |
| ASFAW, MESFIN T | 1 | 83.0% | +13.9% |
| PINKNEY, DAWAYNE | 1 | 80.7% | +17.9% |
| LEE, HWA S | 1 | 72.3% | +3.1% |
| MANNO, JESSICA S | 1 | 72.3% | +27.3% |
| JOSEPH, DENNIS P | 1 | 49.3% | +17.5% |
| NIU, XINNING | 1 | 82.6% | +4.7% |
| WHITESELL, STEVEN H | 1 | 81.9% | +12.9% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17283056 | METHOD TO CREATE THE IDEAL SOURCE SPECTRA WITH SOURCE AND MASK OPTIMIZATION | WHITESELL, STEVEN H | 53d overdue |
| 18889787 | SPECTRAL FEATURE CONTROL APPARATUS | PINKNEY, DAWAYNE | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 7 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19055718 | GAS PURGE SYSTEMS FOR A LASER SOURCE | ASFAW, MESFIN T | — |
| 18707413 | METROLOGY APPARATUS AND METHOD | LEE, HWA S | — |
| 18571826 | GAS CONTROL APPARATUS FOR GAS DISCHARGE STAGE | MENEFEE, JAMES A | — |
| 18564335 | SYSTEM FOR ACTIVELY CONTROLLING A CAVITY LENGTH OF AN OPTICAL ASSEMBLY | MANNO, JESSICA S | — |
| 18268378 | PULSED POWER CIRCUITS USING HYBRID NON-LINEAR MAGNETIC MATERIALS AND INDUCTORS INCORPORATING THE SAME | NIU, XINNING | — |
| 18039619 | APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF MODULATING A WAVELENGTH OF AN EXCIMER LASER AS A FUNCTION OF ITS REPETITION FREQUENCY | VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | — |
| 17267949 | METROLOGY FOR A BODY OF A GAS DISCHARGE STAGE | VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17283056 | METHOD TO CREATE THE IDEAL SOURCE SPECTRA WITH SOURCE AND MASK OPTIMIZATION | WHITESELL, STEVEN H | 53d overdue |
| 19055718 | GAS PURGE SYSTEMS FOR A LASER SOURCE | ASFAW, MESFIN T | — |
| 18889787 | SPECTRAL FEATURE CONTROL APPARATUS | PINKNEY, DAWAYNE | — |
| 18571826 | GAS CONTROL APPARATUS FOR GAS DISCHARGE STAGE | MENEFEE, JAMES A | — |
| 18564335 | SYSTEM FOR ACTIVELY CONTROLLING A CAVITY LENGTH OF AN OPTICAL ASSEMBLY | MANNO, JESSICA S | — |
| 18556835 | ELECTRONIC MODULE FOR A MAGNETIC SWITCHING NETWORK TO PRODUCE A PULSE OF THE PULSED OUTPUT LIGHT BEAM | JOSEPH, DENNIS P | — |
| 18265765 | MAGNETIC SWITCH WITH IMPEDANCE CONTROL FOR AN OPTICAL SYSTEM | MENEFEE, JAMES A | — |
| 18039619 | APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF MODULATING A WAVELENGTH OF AN EXCIMER LASER AS A FUNCTION OF ITS REPETITION FREQUENCY | VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2828 | 4 |
| 2877 | 1 |
| 2872 | 1 |
| 2621 | 1 |
| 1759 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19055718 | GAS PURGE SYSTEMS FOR A LASER SOURCE | ASFAW, MESFIN T | — | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 18, 2025 |
| 18889787 | SPECTRAL FEATURE CONTROL APPARATUS | PINKNEY, DAWAYNE | — | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 19, 2024 |
| 18707413 | METROLOGY APPARATUS AND METHOD | LEE, HWA S | 2877 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 03, 2024 |
| 18571826 | GAS CONTROL APPARATUS FOR GAS DISCHARGE STAGE | MENEFEE, JAMES A | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 19, 2023 |
| 18564335 | SYSTEM FOR ACTIVELY CONTROLLING A CAVITY LENGTH OF AN OPTICAL ASSEMBLY | MANNO, JESSICA S | 2872 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 27, 2023 |
| 18556835 | ELECTRONIC MODULE FOR A MAGNETIC SWITCHING NETWORK TO PRODUCE A PULSE OF THE PULSED OUTPUT LIGHT BEAM | JOSEPH, DENNIS P | 2621 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 23, 2023 |
| 18268378 | PULSED POWER CIRCUITS USING HYBRID NON-LINEAR MAGNETIC MATERIALS AND INDUCTORS INCORPORATING THE SAME | NIU, XINNING | 2828 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 20, 2023 |
| 18265765 | MAGNETIC SWITCH WITH IMPEDANCE CONTROL FOR AN OPTICAL SYSTEM | MENEFEE, JAMES A | 2828 | §102§103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 07, 2023 |
| 18039619 | APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF MODULATING A WAVELENGTH OF AN EXCIMER LASER AS A FUNCTION OF ITS REPETITION FREQUENCY | VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | 2828 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 31, 2023 |
| 17283056 | METHOD TO CREATE THE IDEAL SOURCE SPECTRA WITH SOURCE AND MASK OPTIMIZATION | WHITESELL, STEVEN H | 1759 | §103 | Final Rejection | 53d overdue | Pending | Apr 06, 2021 |
| 17267949 | METROLOGY FOR A BODY OF A GAS DISCHARGE STAGE | VAN ROY, TOD THOMAS | 2828 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 11, 2021 |
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