Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
6 pending office actions • 4 art units • 5 examiners • 0 of 6 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 24 patents granted in the last 365 days
H.j. Heinz Company Brands LLC has 7 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These cases are distributed among 6 distinct examiners, showing some concentration within the personnel reviewing the company's applications. For a practitioner, this means that the company can potentially leverage a more consistent prosecution strategy, as one examiner is handling multiple cases. The 7 pending office actions are spread across 4 distinct art units, indicating that the company's filings are focused within a few specialized technical groups at the USPTO.
KIM, BRYAN is the busiest examiner for the portfolio, overseeing 2 pending office actions. This indicates that 2 of the 7 pending office actions are concentrated under a single individual. This concentration within 4 distinct art units allows for a more targeted approach to prosecution, as the practitioner can focus on the specific standards and tendencies of a smaller group of examiners. Practitioners should prioritize understanding the historical rulings of KIM, BRYAN, as this examiner's decisions will have a significant impact on the overall success of the company's current patent portfolio.
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 | 4 (67%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (33%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KIM, BRYAN | 2 | 28.2% | +36.6% |
| CHU, KING M | 1 | 75.5% | +13.1% |
| CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J | 1 | 65.1% | +35.7% |
| ETZEL, ALAN RAYMOND | 1 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| VAN, QUANG T | 1 | 74.3% | +8.3% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18381419 | Modular Meal System and Method of Making a Modular Meal System | KIM, BRYAN | 182d overdue |
| 18381429 | Modular Meal System and Method of Making a Modular Meal System | KIM, BRYAN | 182d overdue |
| 19146370 | CONTAINER, CLOSURE, AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | CHU, KING M | — |
| 19050962 | DISPENSING CAP, INSERTABLE CARTRIDGE, DISPENSING CONTAINER, DISPENSING SYSTEM, AND METHODS FOR MANUFACTURE AND USE | ETZEL, ALAN RAYMOND | — |
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 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18381419 | Modular Meal System and Method of Making a Modular Meal System | KIM, BRYAN | 182d overdue |
| 18381429 | Modular Meal System and Method of Making a Modular Meal System | KIM, BRYAN | 182d overdue |
| 19146370 | CONTAINER, CLOSURE, AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | CHU, KING M | — |
| 19146358 | CONTAINER, CLOSURE, AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3735 | 2 |
| 1792 | 2 |
| 3733 | 1 |
| 3761 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19146370 | CONTAINER, CLOSURE, AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | CHU, KING M | 3735 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 08, 2025 |
| 19146358 | CONTAINER, CLOSURE, AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J | 3733 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 08, 2025 |
| 19050962 | DISPENSING CAP, INSERTABLE CARTRIDGE, DISPENSING CONTAINER, DISPENSING SYSTEM, AND METHODS FOR MANUFACTURE AND USE | ETZEL, ALAN RAYMOND | 3735 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 11, 2025 |
| 18571857 | MULTI-COMPARTMENT COOKING TRAY AND METHODS RELATED THERETO | VAN, QUANG T | 3761 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 19, 2023 |
| 18381419 | Modular Meal System and Method of Making a Modular Meal System | KIM, BRYAN | 1792 | §103 | Final Rejection | 182d overdue | Pending | Oct 18, 2023 |
| 18381429 | Modular Meal System and Method of Making a Modular Meal System | KIM, BRYAN | 1792 | §103 | Final Rejection | 182d overdue | Pending | Oct 18, 2023 |
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Start Free TrialH.j. Heinz Company Brands LLC has 6 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 4 art units and 5 examiners.
Bryan Kim has the most, with 2 of H.j. Heinz Company Brands LLC's pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
