Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
3 pending office actions • 2 art units • 3 examiners • 0 of 3 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 3 patents granted in the last 365 days
Gea Food Solutions Germany GmbH has 2 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are split between 2 distinct examiners and 2 distinct art units. MACFARLANE, EVAN H is the busiest examiner, with 1 pending action under review.
This means that each of the pending office actions is being handled by a different examiner in a separate art unit. The use of 2 distinct art units suggests that the pending matters may involve different technical focuses within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering sector. Practitioners should be prepared to navigate separate sets of examiner preferences and art unit guidelines. The even distribution of the 2 pending actions ensures that no single examiner dominates the current prosecution workload. This arrangement requires a strategy that addresses the specific procedural nuances of each of the 2 distinct art units. The involvement of multiple examiners highlights the need for a tailored approach to each pending office action. This structure reflects the technical diversity of the company's current patent applications.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 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 | 1 (33%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (67%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SINGH, KAVEL | 1 | 83.7% | +14.0% |
| MACFARLANE, EVAN H | 1 | 50.7% | +42.2% |
| BEHA, CAROLINE | 1 | 57.5% | +23.8% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18708382 | Positioning of a Position-Variable Stop Means of a Slicing Device for Slicing Food | MACFARLANE, EVAN H | 20d |
| 19110158 | DEVICE FOR TRANSPORTING SLICES OF FOOD | SINGH, KAVEL | — |
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 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18013009 | Sealing Tool Having A Heating Means | BEHA, CAROLINE | 42d overdue |
| 18708382 | Positioning of a Position-Variable Stop Means of a Slicing Device for Slicing Food | MACFARLANE, EVAN H | 20d |
| 19110158 | DEVICE FOR TRANSPORTING SLICES OF FOOD | SINGH, KAVEL | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3724 | 1 |
| 1748 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19110158 | DEVICE FOR TRANSPORTING SLICES OF FOOD | SINGH, KAVEL | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 10, 2025 |
| 18708382 | Positioning of a Position-Variable Stop Means of a Slicing Device for Slicing Food | MACFARLANE, EVAN H | 3724 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 20d | Pending | May 08, 2024 |
| 18013009 | Sealing Tool Having A Heating Means | BEHA, CAROLINE | 1748 | §103 | Final Rejection | 42d overdue | Pending | Dec 27, 2022 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free Trial