Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
7 pending office actions • 5 art units • 6 examiners • 0 of 7 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 21 patents granted in the last 365 days
H.j. Heinz Company Brands LLC currently has 6 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are being reviewed by 5 distinct examiners, indicating a relatively concentrated group of officials overseeing the company's intellectual property. The prosecution involves 4 distinct art units, showing that the mechanical and medical innovations are being evaluated by several specialized technical groups.
The busiest examiner for this portfolio is KIM, BRYAN, who is currently managing 2 pending office actions. This examiner is responsible for a portion of the 6 total pending office actions for the company. The remaining actions are spread across the other 5 distinct examiners, suggesting that most examiners are only handling a single case for the company at this time.
With 6 pending office actions across 4 distinct art units, the company must navigate various examination environments within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering sector. The concentration of 2 actions with KIM, BRYAN highlights a specific point of focus for the company's legal team within the broader pool of examiners.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 3 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. 3 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 | 3 (43%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 4 (57%) |
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 | 28.4% | +36.8% |
| CHU, KING M | 1 | 75.4% | +13.2% |
| CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J | 1 | 65.1% | +35.7% |
| CHIANG, JENNIFER C | 1 | 70.5% | +30.0% |
| VAN, QUANG T | 1 | 74.2% | +8.3% |
| 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 6 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 |
| 18495207 | Microwavable Package Having Susceptors | THAKUR, VIREN A | 19d |
| 19146370 | CONTAINER, CLOSURE, AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | CHU, KING M | — |
| 18844314 | CONDIMENT DISPENSING APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND RELATED METHODS | CHIANG, JENNIFER C | — |
| 18571857 | MULTI-COMPARTMENT COOKING TRAY AND METHODS RELATED THERETO | VAN, QUANG T | — |
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 6 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 |
| 18495207 | Microwavable Package Having Susceptors | THAKUR, VIREN A | 19d |
| 19146370 | CONTAINER, CLOSURE, AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | CHU, KING M | — |
| 19146358 | CONTAINER, CLOSURE, AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J | — |
| 18844314 | CONDIMENT DISPENSING APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND RELATED METHODS | CHIANG, JENNIFER C | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1792 | 3 |
| 3735 | 1 |
| 3733 | 1 |
| 3754 | 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 |
| 18844314 | CONDIMENT DISPENSING APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND RELATED METHODS | CHIANG, JENNIFER C | 3754 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 05, 2024 |
| 18571857 | MULTI-COMPARTMENT COOKING TRAY AND METHODS RELATED THERETO | VAN, QUANG T | 3761 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 19, 2023 |
| 18495207 | Microwavable Package Having Susceptors | THAKUR, VIREN A | 1792 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 19d | Pending | Oct 26, 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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