Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
16 pending office actions • 4 art units • 11 examiners • 0 of 16 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 60 patents granted in the last 365 days
Graco Minnesota Inc. has 16 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are handled by 11 distinct examiners, which indicates some level of examiner overlap. The prosecution activity is concentrated within 4 distinct art units, showing a focused technical range for the company's current applications.
GORMAN, DARREN W is the busiest examiner, currently managing 3 busiest examiner pending actions. This concentration of 3 actions out of 16 total pending office actions shows that GORMAN, DARREN W has a notable role in the company's current prosecution. The involvement of 11 distinct examiners across 4 distinct art units suggests that while there is some concentration, the company still interacts with a variety of individuals. This structure allows for some consistency in prosecution, especially within the 4 distinct art units where the work is focused. Practitioners can identify GORMAN, DARREN W as a key figure in the current workload, handling nearly twenty percent of the pending actions. The relatively small number of 4 distinct art units suggests that the technical subject matter is closely related across the different 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 (6%) |
| §102 only | 2 (12%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (6%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 12 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GORMAN, DARREN W | 3 | 79.1% | +24.9% |
| BERTHEAUD, PETER JOHN | 2 | 78.2% | +8.4% |
| DANDRIDGE, CHRISTOPHER R. | 2 | 65.9% | +35.4% |
| LEE, CHEE-CHONG | 2 | 64.4% | +52.4% |
| SUTHERLAND, STEVEN M | 1 | 82.0% | +15.5% |
| ZADEH, BOB | 1 | 77.0% | +38.6% |
| PLAKKOOTTAM, DOMINICK L | 1 | 74.4% | +14.9% |
| SCHWARTZ, KEVIN EDWARD | 1 | 51.3% | +40.0% |
| CHEN, KUANGYUE | 1 | 63.1% | +45.7% |
| BOECKMANN, JASON J | 1 | 49.1% | +28.4% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19311881 | PUMP DRIVE SYSTEM | BERTHEAUD, PETER JOHN | — |
| 19125157 | SOLVENT DOSING AND DOSE PISTON FOR A SPRAY APPLICATOR | SUTHERLAND, STEVEN M | — |
| 18997983 | FLUID SPRAYER HAVING ACTIVE COOLING | DANDRIDGE, CHRISTOPHER R. | — |
| 18992050 | PUMP AND FLUID DISPLACER FOR A PUMP | PLAKKOOTTAM, DOMINICK L | — |
| 18987467 | HANDHELD FLUID SPRAYER | GORMAN, DARREN W | — |
| 18988147 | ALIGNMENT TOOL FOR A SPRAY GUN AIR CAP | DANDRIDGE, CHRISTOPHER R. | — |
| 18825470 | PORTABLE AIRLESS SPRAYER | GORMAN, DARREN W | — |
| 18799322 | ROTORY BELL ATOMIZER SHAPING AIR CONFIGURATION AND AIR CAP APPARATUS | GORMAN, DARREN W | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18025288 | FAN AIR LEVER FOR A SPRAY GUN | BOECKMANN, JASON J | 12d |
| 19125157 | SOLVENT DOSING AND DOSE PISTON FOR A SPRAY APPLICATOR | SUTHERLAND, STEVEN M | — |
| 19048412 | INDEPENDENT HEATED HOSE | ZADEH, BOB | — |
| 18997983 | FLUID SPRAYER HAVING ACTIVE COOLING | DANDRIDGE, CHRISTOPHER R. | — |
| 18992050 | PUMP AND FLUID DISPLACER FOR A PUMP | PLAKKOOTTAM, DOMINICK L | — |
| 18987467 | HANDHELD FLUID SPRAYER | GORMAN, DARREN W | — |
| 18988147 | ALIGNMENT TOOL FOR A SPRAY GUN AIR CAP | DANDRIDGE, CHRISTOPHER R. | — |
| 18825470 | PORTABLE AIRLESS SPRAYER | GORMAN, DARREN W | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3752 | 7 |
| 3746 | 3 |
| 3761 | 1 |
| 1717 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19480745 | ACTIVE CHECKED MULTIPLE DISPLACER ASSEMBLY | BERTHEAUD, PETER JOHN | 3746 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 31, 2025 |
| 19311881 | PUMP DRIVE SYSTEM | BERTHEAUD, PETER JOHN | 3746 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 27, 2025 |
| 19125157 | SOLVENT DOSING AND DOSE PISTON FOR A SPRAY APPLICATOR | SUTHERLAND, STEVEN M | 3752 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 28, 2025 |
| 19048412 | INDEPENDENT HEATED HOSE | ZADEH, BOB | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 07, 2025 |
| 18997983 | FLUID SPRAYER HAVING ACTIVE COOLING | DANDRIDGE, CHRISTOPHER R. | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 23, 2025 |
| 18992050 | PUMP AND FLUID DISPLACER FOR A PUMP | PLAKKOOTTAM, DOMINICK L | 3746 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 07, 2025 |
| 18987467 | HANDHELD FLUID SPRAYER | GORMAN, DARREN W | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 19, 2024 |
| 18988147 | ALIGNMENT TOOL FOR A SPRAY GUN AIR CAP | DANDRIDGE, CHRISTOPHER R. | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 19, 2024 |
| 18825470 | PORTABLE AIRLESS SPRAYER | GORMAN, DARREN W | 3752 | §102§103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 05, 2024 |
| 18799322 | ROTORY BELL ATOMIZER SHAPING AIR CONFIGURATION AND AIR CAP APPARATUS | GORMAN, DARREN W | 3752 | §102§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 09, 2024 |
| 18651067 | FLUID SPRAYER AND COMPONENTS OF A FLUID SPRAYER | LEE, CHEE-CHONG | 3752 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 30, 2024 |
| 18568535 | SPRAY GUN AND COMPONENTS FOR SPRAYING PAINTS AND OTHER COATINGS | LEE, CHEE-CHONG | 3752 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 08, 2023 |
| 18564930 | PORTABLE FLUID SPRAYER HAVING A TUBE DAMPENER | SCHWARTZ, KEVIN EDWARD | 3752 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 28, 2023 |
| 18270347 | INTERNALLY HEATED HOSE WIRE IMPREGNATION | CHEN, KUANGYUE | 3761 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 29, 2023 |
| 18025288 | FAN AIR LEVER FOR A SPRAY GUN | BOECKMANN, JASON J | 3752 | §102 | Final Rejection | 12d | Pending | Mar 08, 2023 |
| 17969459 | GROUND MARKING BEAD FLOW SENSOR | THOMAS, BINU | 1717 | §103 | Final Rejection | 61d | Pending | Oct 19, 2022 |
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