Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
12 pending office actions • 6 art units • 9 examiners • 0 of 12 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 14 patents granted in the last 365 days
First Solar Inc. currently faces 12 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These matters are spread across 8 distinct examiners and 5 distinct art units. This distribution indicates a diverse prosecution environment where technical issues are reviewed by several different groups within the patent office. The involvement of 5 distinct art units suggests that the company's solar technologies span multiple specialized classifications within the Chemistry & Materials field.
MOWLA, GOLAM is the busiest examiner for this portfolio, overseeing 3 pending office actions. With 12 total actions and 8 distinct examiners, some examiners like MOWLA, GOLAM handle multiple cases while others manage fewer. Practitioners should prioritize understanding the specific requirements and past decisions of the busiest examiners to streamline the resolution of the bulk of the pending actions. The variety of 8 distinct examiners means that the company must maintain a flexible strategy that can account for the different perspectives and examination styles encountered across the 5 distinct art units currently reviewing the portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 5 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. 5 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 (8%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (8%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (8%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 9 (75%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOWLA, GOLAM | 3 | 62.0% | +28.1% |
| DINH, BACH T | 2 | 55.4% | +31.3% |
| BUCK, LINDSEY A | 1 | 49.4% | +34.3% |
| WHITE, SADIE | 1 | 48.8% | +31.6% |
| TRIVISONNO, ANGELO | 1 | 53.0% | +25.8% |
| PILLAY, DEVINA | 1 | 44.2% | +25.9% |
| LAW, NGA LEUNG V | 1 | 56.7% | +20.7% |
| TRINH, THANH TRUC | 1 | 22.1% | +10.8% |
| HOU, FRANK S | 1 | 68.3% | +34.8% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18708334 | Materials and Methods for Tandem Photovoltaic Devices | PILLAY, DEVINA | 78d overdue |
| 18399028 | Photovoltaic Devices and Methods for Producing Devices Using Perovskite Materials | TRINH, THANH TRUC | 41d |
| 19023233 | Photovoltaic Devices and Method of Making | MOWLA, GOLAM | 56d |
| 19239412 | Photovoltaic Devices with Textured TCO Layers, and Methods of Making TCO Stacks | MOWLA, GOLAM | — |
| 18956909 | THIN FILM SOLAR MODULE AND PRODUCTION METHOD | DINH, BACH T | — |
| 18828147 | PHOTOVOLTAIC TOP MODULE | DINH, BACH T | — |
| 18841928 | PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES AND METHODS OF MAKING | TRIVISONNO, ANGELO | — |
| 18628285 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VAPORIZATION AND VAPOR DISTRIBUTION | LAW, NGA LEUNG V | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18708334 | Materials and Methods for Tandem Photovoltaic Devices | PILLAY, DEVINA | 78d overdue |
| 18914841 | Buffer Layers for Photovoltaic Devices with Group V Doping | BUCK, LINDSEY A | 38d overdue |
| 18399028 | Photovoltaic Devices and Methods for Producing Devices Using Perovskite Materials | TRINH, THANH TRUC | 41d |
| 19023233 | Photovoltaic Devices and Method of Making | MOWLA, GOLAM | 56d |
| 19006785 | Photovoltaic Devices Including An Interfacial Layer | MOWLA, GOLAM | 70d |
| 19239412 | Photovoltaic Devices with Textured TCO Layers, and Methods of Making TCO Stacks | MOWLA, GOLAM | — |
| 18956909 | THIN FILM SOLAR MODULE AND PRODUCTION METHOD | DINH, BACH T | — |
| 18828147 | PHOTOVOLTAIC TOP MODULE | DINH, BACH T | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1721 | 4 |
| 1726 | 4 |
| 1728 | 1 |
| 1722 | 1 |
| 1717 | 1 |
| 1692 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19239412 | Photovoltaic Devices with Textured TCO Layers, and Methods of Making TCO Stacks | MOWLA, GOLAM | 1721 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 16, 2025 |
| 19023233 | Photovoltaic Devices and Method of Making | MOWLA, GOLAM | 1721 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | 56d | Pending | Jan 15, 2025 |
| 19006785 | Photovoltaic Devices Including An Interfacial Layer | MOWLA, GOLAM | 1721 | §112DPOther | Non-Final OA | 70d | Pending | Dec 31, 2024 |
| 18956909 | THIN FILM SOLAR MODULE AND PRODUCTION METHOD | DINH, BACH T | 1726 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 22, 2024 |
| 18914841 | Buffer Layers for Photovoltaic Devices with Group V Doping | BUCK, LINDSEY A | 1728 | DP | Final Rejection | 38d overdue | Pending | Oct 14, 2024 |
| 18828147 | PHOTOVOLTAIC TOP MODULE | DINH, BACH T | 1726 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 09, 2024 |
| 18825810 | LAYER STRUCTURES FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES AND PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES INCLUDING THE SAME | WHITE, SADIE | 1721 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 05, 2024 |
| 18841928 | PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES AND METHODS OF MAKING | TRIVISONNO, ANGELO | 1722 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 27, 2024 |
| 18708334 | Materials and Methods for Tandem Photovoltaic Devices | PILLAY, DEVINA | 1726 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 78d overdue | Pending | May 08, 2024 |
| 18628285 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VAPORIZATION AND VAPOR DISTRIBUTION | LAW, NGA LEUNG V | 1717 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 05, 2024 |
| 18399028 | Photovoltaic Devices and Methods for Producing Devices Using Perovskite Materials | TRINH, THANH TRUC | 1726 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 41d | Pending | Dec 28, 2023 |
| 18553888 | METHODS FOR PURIFYING PEROVSKITE PRECURSORS AND IMPROVED PEROVSKITES MANUFACTURED THEREFROM | HOU, FRANK S | 1692 | §102§112Other | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 04, 2023 |
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