Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
20 pending office actions • 9 art units • 16 examiners • 0 of 20 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 62 patents granted in the last 365 days
Depuy Ireland Unlimited Company currently manages 20 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These matters are distributed across 16 distinct examiners and 9 distinct art units. This distribution indicates a spread of examination across the USPTO, with some concentration among certain examiners.
LAWSON, MATTHEW JAMES is identified as the busiest examiner for this portfolio, currently handling 2 pending office actions. This represents a small portion of the total 20 pending office actions. The presence of 9 distinct art units suggests that the company's medical device innovations span multiple specialized classifications within the patent office.
Practitioners should note that with 16 distinct examiners for 20 actions, most pending matters are being reviewed by different individuals. This limited examiner overlap means that prosecution strategies may need to be tailored to the specific preferences of many different officials. Managing 9 distinct art units requires a sophisticated understanding of various examination guidelines within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering sector.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 10 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. 10 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 (5%) |
| §103 only | 7 (35%) |
| §102 only | 1 (5%) |
| §112 only | 4 (20%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (5%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (5%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (25%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAWSON, MATTHEW JAMES | 2 | 73.7% | +29.9% |
| DUKERT, BRIAN AINSLEY | 2 | 82.1% | +11.2% |
| BATES, DAVID W | 2 | 76.4% | +16.7% |
| RIOS, GABRIELLA GISELLE BONO | 2 | 16.0% | +0.0% |
| BOLES, SAMEH RAAFAT | 1 | 70.1% | +24.2% |
| WEISS, JESSICA | 1 | 81.0% | +33.0% |
| DOUGHERTY, SEAN PATRICK | 1 | 74.7% | +15.7% |
| MALAMUD, DEBORAH LESLIE | 1 | 78.2% | +9.6% |
| ROANE, AARON F | 1 | 73.4% | +9.7% |
| WATKINS, MARCIA LYNN | 1 | 61.0% | +38.8% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18781123 | ACETABULAR PROSTHESIS WITH ADJUSTABLE ACETABULAR CUP CAGES | DUKERT, BRIAN AINSLEY | — |
| 18400996 | IMPLANTS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF USING THE SAME | DUKERT, BRIAN AINSLEY | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17857584 | ACETABULAR ORTHOPAEDIC PROSTHESIS AND METHOD | RIOS, GABRIELLA GISELLE BONO | 60d overdue |
| 17660325 | ORTHOPEDIC IMPLANT SYSTEM WITH AUGMENTATION DEVICE AND METHODS OF USE | RIOS, GABRIELLA GISELLE BONO | 12d |
| 18434876 | PROSTHETIC IMPLANT REVISION TOOLS | MALAMUD, DEBORAH LESLIE | 20d |
| 19256378 | PROSTHETIC IMPLANT REMOVAL TOOL AND ASSOCIATED METHOD | LAWSON, MATTHEW JAMES | — |
| 19094257 | METHODS, SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS FOR PERFORMING A SURGICAL PROCEDURE TO BALANCE A PATIENT'S KNEE | BOLES, SAMEH RAAFAT | — |
| 18949122 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING BLADE DEFLECTION DURING ORTHOPAEDIC SURGICAL PROCEDURES | WEISS, JESSICA | — |
| 18714414 | PCL BALANCING IN KNEE REPLACEMENT | DOUGHERTY, SEAN PATRICK | — |
| 18242260 | METHOD OF TRIALING AN ORTHOPAEDIC PROSTHETIC ASSEMBLY | WATKINS, MARCIA LYNN | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18714735 | IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO DEVICES FOR SURGICAL INSTRUMENT EXTRACTION | BATES, DAVID W | 56d overdue |
| 18715420 | IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO DEVICES FOR SURGICAL INSTRUMENT IMPACTION | BATES, DAVID W | 53d overdue |
| 19256378 | PROSTHETIC IMPLANT REMOVAL TOOL AND ASSOCIATED METHOD | LAWSON, MATTHEW JAMES | — |
| 19094257 | METHODS, SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS FOR PERFORMING A SURGICAL PROCEDURE TO BALANCE A PATIENT'S KNEE | BOLES, SAMEH RAAFAT | — |
| 18949122 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING BLADE DEFLECTION DURING ORTHOPAEDIC SURGICAL PROCEDURES | WEISS, JESSICA | — |
| 18781123 | ACETABULAR PROSTHESIS WITH ADJUSTABLE ACETABULAR CUP CAGES | DUKERT, BRIAN AINSLEY | — |
| 18714414 | PCL BALANCING IN KNEE REPLACEMENT | DOUGHERTY, SEAN PATRICK | — |
| 18400996 | IMPLANTS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF USING THE SAME | DUKERT, BRIAN AINSLEY | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3774 | 6 |
| 3775 | 2 |
| 3799 | 2 |
| 3791 | 2 |
| 3792 | 2 |
| 3700 | 1 |
| 3722 | 1 |
| 1754 | 1 |
| 3619 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19256378 | PROSTHETIC IMPLANT REMOVAL TOOL AND ASSOCIATED METHOD | LAWSON, MATTHEW JAMES | 3774 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 01, 2025 |
| 19094257 | METHODS, SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS FOR PERFORMING A SURGICAL PROCEDURE TO BALANCE A PATIENT'S KNEE | BOLES, SAMEH RAAFAT | — | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 28, 2025 |
| 18949122 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING BLADE DEFLECTION DURING ORTHOPAEDIC SURGICAL PROCEDURES | WEISS, JESSICA | 3775 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 15, 2024 |
| 18781123 | ACETABULAR PROSTHESIS WITH ADJUSTABLE ACETABULAR CUP CAGES | DUKERT, BRIAN AINSLEY | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 23, 2024 |
| 18715420 | IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO DEVICES FOR SURGICAL INSTRUMENT IMPACTION | BATES, DAVID W | 3799 | §103 | Final Rejection | 53d overdue | Pending | May 31, 2024 |
| 18714735 | IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO DEVICES FOR SURGICAL INSTRUMENT EXTRACTION | BATES, DAVID W | 3799 | §102 | Final Rejection | 56d overdue | Pending | May 30, 2024 |
| 18714414 | PCL BALANCING IN KNEE REPLACEMENT | DOUGHERTY, SEAN PATRICK | 3791 | §101§102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 29, 2024 |
| 18434876 | PROSTHETIC IMPLANT REVISION TOOLS | MALAMUD, DEBORAH LESLIE | 3792 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 20d | Pending | Feb 07, 2024 |
| 18400996 | IMPLANTS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF USING THE SAME | DUKERT, BRIAN AINSLEY | 3774 | §102§103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 29, 2023 |
| 18560240 | SYSTEM FOR GUIDING A SURGICAL TOOL COMPRISING AN OPERATIVE AXIS WITH RESPECT TO AN ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE | ROANE, AARON F | 3700 | §112 | Final Rejection | 77d overdue | Pending | Nov 10, 2023 |
| 18242260 | METHOD OF TRIALING AN ORTHOPAEDIC PROSTHETIC ASSEMBLY | WATKINS, MARCIA LYNN | 3774 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 05, 2023 |
| 18350701 | KNEE ARTHROPLASTY LOAD BALANCING UTILIZING AN INTRAOPERATIVE SENSOR SYSTEM | PATEL, AREN | 3774 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 4d overdue | Pending | Jul 11, 2023 |
| 18259950 | IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO MOUNTING SYSTEMS | CADUGAN, ERICA E | 3722 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 29, 2023 |
| 18112863 | BONY LANDMARK DETERMINATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS | WEBSTER, KARMEL JOHANNA | 3792 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 26d overdue | Pending | Feb 22, 2023 |
| 18082768 | ORTHOPAEDIC SURGICAL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INSTALLING CEMENT RESTRICTOR COMPONENTS IN A DIRECT ANTERIOR APPROACH HIP REPLACEMENT SURGICAL PROCEDURE | WAGGLE, JR, LARRY E | 3775 | §103 | Final Rejection | 66d overdue | Pending | Dec 16, 2022 |
| 17968114 | COMPOSITE ORTHOPAEDIC PROSTHESIS AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME | THROWER, LARRY W | 1754 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 18, 2022 |
| 17872572 | METHOD FOR PERFORMING AN ORTHOPAEDIC SURGICAL PROCEDURE | KREMER, MATTHEW | 3791 | §112 | Non-Final OA | 28d overdue | Pending | Jul 25, 2022 |
| 17857584 | ACETABULAR ORTHOPAEDIC PROSTHESIS AND METHOD | RIOS, GABRIELLA GISELLE BONO | 3774 | §103 | Final Rejection | 60d overdue | Pending | Jul 05, 2022 |
| 17660325 | ORTHOPEDIC IMPLANT SYSTEM WITH AUGMENTATION DEVICE AND METHODS OF USE | RIOS, GABRIELLA GISELLE BONO | 3774 | §103 | Final Rejection | 12d | Pending | Apr 22, 2022 |
| 17628453 | Implant Removal Tool | LAWSON, MATTHEW JAMES | 3619 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 19, 2022 |
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