Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
3 pending office actions • 1 art units • 2 examiners • 0 of 3 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 1 patents granted in the last 365 days
Gühring Kg has 3 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. All of these matters are concentrated within 1 distinct art unit, which indicates a specific technical niche for this portfolio. Prosecution is handled by 2 distinct examiners, which limits the variety of procedural styles the company must navigate. The presence of 1 distinct art unit suggests that the company's mechanical innovations are being evaluated by a solitary specialized group at the patent office.
DARRELL CHRISTOPHER FORD is the busiest examiner for the company, managing 2 pending office actions. This means a majority of the 3 total pending actions are assigned to this individual. Such a concentration in the art unit and with a specific examiner suggests that outcomes for the current portfolio are heavily dependent on the interpretations of a small group of patent office personnel. Practitioners should note that the busiest examiner handles 2 of the active matters, while the remaining work is distributed to the other involved examiner. With 3 pending office actions, the company maintains a small but specialized presence. The involvement of 2 distinct examiners requires the company to address different sets of examiner preferences within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering sector.
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 |
|---|---|
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (100%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FORD, DARRELL CHRISTOPHER | 2 | 76.2% | +39.5% |
| ADDISU, SARA | 1 | 85.4% | +10.7% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19181285 | FLAT DRILL | FORD, DARRELL CHRISTOPHER | — |
| 19075614 | HYDRAULIC EXPANSION CHUCK | ADDISU, SARA | — |
| 18646233 | End mill | FORD, DARRELL CHRISTOPHER | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19181285 | FLAT DRILL | FORD, DARRELL CHRISTOPHER | — |
| 19075614 | HYDRAULIC EXPANSION CHUCK | ADDISU, SARA | — |
| 18646233 | End mill | FORD, DARRELL CHRISTOPHER | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3726 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19181285 | FLAT DRILL | FORD, DARRELL CHRISTOPHER | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 16, 2025 |
| 19075614 | HYDRAULIC EXPANSION CHUCK | ADDISU, SARA | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 10, 2025 |
| 18646233 | End mill | FORD, DARRELL CHRISTOPHER | 3726 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Apr 25, 2024 |
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