Technology areas: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
5 pending office actions • 4 art units • 5 examiners • 0 of 5 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 18 patents granted in the last 365 days
Ethicon Inc. has 5 pending office actions in Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering. The matters involve 5 distinct examiners across 4 distinct art units, showing broad examiner distribution with some art-unit repetition.
JONES, DIANA S is the busiest examiner, with 1 pending office action. Counsel should track recurring art-unit issues while keeping each response tied to the specific device claims and examination record.
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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 1 (20%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (20%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (60%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| JONES, DIANA S | 1 | 75.1% | +20.3% |
| WEISS, JESSICA | 1 | 81.0% | +32.8% |
| LABRANCHE, BROOKE N | 1 | 72.1% | +17.0% |
| LIU, TRACY | 1 | 54.5% | +26.9% |
| HARTLEY, MICHAEL G | 1 | 38.0% | +74.6% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18758030 | Pressure Distribution Implants for Approximating Opposing Bone Edges of Sternums During Sternal Closure Procedures | WEISS, JESSICA | 28d |
| 19014719 | SYSTEMS, DEVICES AND METHODS FOR RECONSTITUTING THERAPEUTIC POWDERS, MIXING PRECURSOR SOLUTIONS, AND EXPRESSING SEALANTS FOR CONTROLLING BLEEDING AND SEALING FLUID AND AIR LEAKS | JONES, DIANA S | — |
| 17546378 | Bleeding Detection Method | HARTLEY, MICHAEL G | — |
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 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17573574 | BIOCOMPATIBLE, FLEXIBLE, HAEMOSTATIC SHEET | LIU, TRACY | 31d overdue |
| 18757997 | SURGICAL CLIP REQUIRING MINIMAL CLOSURE FORCE | LABRANCHE, BROOKE N | 8d |
| 18758030 | Pressure Distribution Implants for Approximating Opposing Bone Edges of Sternums During Sternal Closure Procedures | WEISS, JESSICA | 28d |
| 19014719 | SYSTEMS, DEVICES AND METHODS FOR RECONSTITUTING THERAPEUTIC POWDERS, MIXING PRECURSOR SOLUTIONS, AND EXPRESSING SEALANTS FOR CONTROLLING BLEEDING AND SEALING FLUID AND AIR LEAKS | JONES, DIANA S | — |
| 17546378 | Bleeding Detection Method | HARTLEY, MICHAEL G | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3775 | 2 |
| 3771 | 1 |
| 1614 | 1 |
| 1600 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19014719 | SYSTEMS, DEVICES AND METHODS FOR RECONSTITUTING THERAPEUTIC POWDERS, MIXING PRECURSOR SOLUTIONS, AND EXPRESSING SEALANTS FOR CONTROLLING BLEEDING AND SEALING FLUID AND AIR LEAKS | JONES, DIANA S | 3775 | §102§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 09, 2025 |
| 18758030 | Pressure Distribution Implants for Approximating Opposing Bone Edges of Sternums During Sternal Closure Procedures | WEISS, JESSICA | 3775 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 28d | Pending | Jun 28, 2024 |
| 18757997 | SURGICAL CLIP REQUIRING MINIMAL CLOSURE FORCE | LABRANCHE, BROOKE N | 3771 | §103 | Final Rejection | 8d | Pending | Jun 28, 2024 |
| 17573574 | BIOCOMPATIBLE, FLEXIBLE, HAEMOSTATIC SHEET | LIU, TRACY | 1614 | §103DP | Final Rejection | 31d overdue | Pending | Jan 11, 2022 |
| 17546378 | Bleeding Detection Method | HARTLEY, MICHAEL G | 1600 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 09, 2021 |
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Start Free TrialEthicon Inc. has 5 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 4 art units and 5 examiners.
Diana S Jones has the most, with 1 of Ethicon Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.