Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
18 pending office actions • 4 art units • 16 examiners • 0 of 18 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 30 patents granted in the last 365 days
General Mills Inc. manages 18 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These actions are spread across 16 distinct examiners and 4 distinct art units. This indicates a high concentration of examiners within a relatively small number of technical departments. The use of only 4 art units for the 18 actions suggests that the company's chemical innovations fall into a few specific categories, leading to frequent interactions with the same departmental groups.
Deborah Yang-Hao Liu is the busiest examiner for the portfolio, currently overseeing 2 pending office actions. With 16 examiners handling the 18 actions, most examiners are managing only a single matter for the company. The presence of many distinct examiners requires the company to adapt to many different individual styles. At the same time, the focus on 4 art units allows for a more consistent understanding of the broader policy and prior art landscape. Practitioners should balance the specific feedback from Deborah Yang-Hao Liu with the general standards of the few art units involved. No other examiner besides Deborah Yang-Hao Liu has more than 2 pending matters.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 4 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. 4 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 | 11 (61%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 2 (11%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (28%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| LIU, DEBORAH YANG-HAO | 2 | 8.9% | +12.3% |
| LACHICA, ERICSON M | 2 | 30.0% | +35.4% |
| SILVERMAN, JANICE Y | 1 | 36.7% | +53.8% |
| KOHLER, STEPHANIE A | 1 | 31.9% | +31.1% |
| O'HERN, BRENT T | 1 | 78.5% | +19.8% |
| HAWKINS, AMANDA SALATA | 1 | 12.0% | +45.2% |
| TALBERT, ERIC MICHAEL | 1 | 22.0% | +57.3% |
| SMITH, CHAIM A | 1 | 39.2% | +51.2% |
| TURNER, FELICIA C | 1 | 26.3% | +30.1% |
| THAKUR, VIREN A | 1 | 13.4% | +26.6% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18582140 | Batter Compositions, Packaged Batter Products, and Related Methods | LIU, DEBORAH YANG-HAO | 43d overdue |
| 18037611 | Texture-Controlled Fiber Ingredient Containing Viscous Soluble Fiber and Consumable Food and Fiber Supplement Products Incorporating Same | PURDY, KYLE A | 8d overdue |
| 18687362 | Place and Bake Cake Product | THAKUR, VIREN A | 12d |
| 18864826 | FAT COMPOSITIONS FOR BAKED GOODS | LIU, DEBORAH YANG-HAO | — |
| 18829518 | FUNCTIONALIZED BRAN | O'HERN, BRENT T | — |
| 18837280 | EXTRUDED PUFFED HIGH PROTEIN FOOD PIECES AND METHODS OF MAKING | HAWKINS, AMANDA SALATA | — |
| 18661892 | AROMA DEVICE APPLICATIONS | TALBERT, ERIC MICHAEL | — |
| 18625835 | Extruded High Protein and High Fiber Food Pieces and Methods of Making | TURNER, FELICIA C | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18582140 | Batter Compositions, Packaged Batter Products, and Related Methods | LIU, DEBORAH YANG-HAO | 43d overdue |
| 18687362 | Place and Bake Cake Product | THAKUR, VIREN A | 12d |
| 18973400 | TOPICAL DECORATION OF DOUGH PRODUCTS | SILVERMAN, JANICE Y | — |
| 18864826 | FAT COMPOSITIONS FOR BAKED GOODS | LIU, DEBORAH YANG-HAO | — |
| 18864149 | Shelf-Stable and Satisfying Soft-Baked Snack Product | LACHICA, ERICSON M | — |
| 18888571 | Oat Flour-Based Créme Confection | KOHLER, STEPHANIE A | — |
| 18829518 | FUNCTIONALIZED BRAN | O'HERN, BRENT T | — |
| 18837280 | EXTRUDED PUFFED HIGH PROTEIN FOOD PIECES AND METHODS OF MAKING | HAWKINS, AMANDA SALATA | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1791 | 6 |
| 1792 | 5 |
| 1793 | 1 |
| 1611 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18973400 | TOPICAL DECORATION OF DOUGH PRODUCTS | SILVERMAN, JANICE Y | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 09, 2024 |
| 18864826 | FAT COMPOSITIONS FOR BAKED GOODS | LIU, DEBORAH YANG-HAO | 1791 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 11, 2024 |
| 18864149 | Shelf-Stable and Satisfying Soft-Baked Snack Product | LACHICA, ERICSON M | 1791 | §103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 08, 2024 |
| 18888571 | Oat Flour-Based Créme Confection | KOHLER, STEPHANIE A | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 18, 2024 |
| 18829518 | FUNCTIONALIZED BRAN | O'HERN, BRENT T | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 10, 2024 |
| 18837280 | EXTRUDED PUFFED HIGH PROTEIN FOOD PIECES AND METHODS OF MAKING | HAWKINS, AMANDA SALATA | — | §103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 09, 2024 |
| 18741183 | Package for Hard Taco Shell and Method for Packaging the Hard Taco Shell | LACHICA, ERICSON M | 1792 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 12, 2024 |
| 18661892 | AROMA DEVICE APPLICATIONS | TALBERT, ERIC MICHAEL | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 13, 2024 |
| 18706033 | Boil Over Reduction Compositions for Microwave Cooking | SMITH, CHAIM A | 1791 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 30, 2024 |
| 18625835 | Extruded High Protein and High Fiber Food Pieces and Methods of Making | TURNER, FELICIA C | 1793 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 03, 2024 |
| 18687362 | Place and Bake Cake Product | THAKUR, VIREN A | 1792 | §103 | Final Rejection | 12d | Pending | Feb 28, 2024 |
| 18686584 | Treated Soybean Oil | WATTS, JENNA A | 1791 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 26, 2024 |
| 18582140 | Batter Compositions, Packaged Batter Products, and Related Methods | LIU, DEBORAH YANG-HAO | 1791 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 43d overdue | Pending | Feb 20, 2024 |
| 18568051 | Rolled Dough Product and Method of Producing | BECKER, DREW E | 1792 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 07, 2023 |
| 18374963 | Co-Extruded Dough Product with High-Particulate Filling | BEKKER, KELLY JO | 1792 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 29, 2023 |
| 18037611 | Texture-Controlled Fiber Ingredient Containing Viscous Soluble Fiber and Consumable Food and Fiber Supplement Products Incorporating Same | PURDY, KYLE A | 1611 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 8d overdue | Pending | May 18, 2023 |
| 17572778 | Dividable Dough Sheet Piece | AXTELL, ASHLEY | 1792 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 49d overdue | Pending | Jan 11, 2022 |
| 17500238 | Gluten-Free Tortillas | LEBLANC, KATHERINE DEGUIRE | 1791 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 13, 2021 |
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