Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
5 pending office actions • 3 art units • 5 examiners • 0 of 5 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 18 patents granted in the last 365 days
Harbor Freight Tools USA Inc. is actively prosecuting its patent applications in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. The company currently has 5 pending office actions, which indicates a significant level of ongoing interaction with the patent office. These actions are distributed across 3 distinct art units, showing that the company's medical and mechanical innovations are being reviewed by 3 specialized groups. This distribution requires a prosecution strategy that accounts for the specific technical standards and examination practices of each of the 3 art units.
The prosecution involves 5 distinct examiners, ensuring that each of the 5 pending office actions is being handled by a different individual. THOMAS, DAVID B is the busiest examiner for this portfolio, currently managing 1 pending office action. Because the number of examiners matches the number of pending actions, the workload is spread across the assigned staff without concentration under a single person. Practitioners should be prepared to handle 5 separate prosecution tracks, each with its own examiner, while navigating the requirements of the 3 art units.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| THOMAS, DAVID B | 1 | 76.8% | +21.3% |
| HONG, SEAHEE | 1 | 68.7% | +29.6% |
| ALIE, GHASSEM | 1 | 69.3% | +32.6% |
| LAMBERT, WAYNE A | 1 | 62.1% | +23.4% |
| MATTHEWS, JENNIFER S | 1 | 54.1% | +21.3% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18615550 | Band Saw Stand | ALIE, GHASSEM | 84d |
| 18806396 | RATCHET WRENCH HAVING DISC SPACER | THOMAS, DAVID B | — |
| 18732338 | ADJUSTABLE SADDLE ASSEMBLY FOR A VEHICLE JACK | HONG, SEAHEE | — |
| 18383692 | ERGONOMIC ADJUSTABLE GRIP FOR A HAND-HELD POWER TOOL | LAMBERT, WAYNE A | — |
| 18230481 | ADJUSTABLE SHOE FOR A POWER TOOL | MATTHEWS, JENNIFER S | — |
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 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18615550 | Band Saw Stand | ALIE, GHASSEM | 84d |
| 18806396 | RATCHET WRENCH HAVING DISC SPACER | THOMAS, DAVID B | — |
| 18732338 | ADJUSTABLE SADDLE ASSEMBLY FOR A VEHICLE JACK | HONG, SEAHEE | — |
| 18383692 | ERGONOMIC ADJUSTABLE GRIP FOR A HAND-HELD POWER TOOL | LAMBERT, WAYNE A | — |
| 18230481 | ADJUSTABLE SHOE FOR A POWER TOOL | MATTHEWS, JENNIFER S | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3724 | 2 |
| 3723 | 1 |
| 3745 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18806396 | RATCHET WRENCH HAVING DISC SPACER | THOMAS, DAVID B | 3723 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 15, 2024 |
| 18732338 | ADJUSTABLE SADDLE ASSEMBLY FOR A VEHICLE JACK | HONG, SEAHEE | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 03, 2024 |
| 18615550 | Band Saw Stand | ALIE, GHASSEM | 3724 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 84d | Pending | Mar 25, 2024 |
| 18383692 | ERGONOMIC ADJUSTABLE GRIP FOR A HAND-HELD POWER TOOL | LAMBERT, WAYNE A | 3745 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 25, 2023 |
| 18230481 | ADJUSTABLE SHOE FOR A POWER TOOL | MATTHEWS, JENNIFER S | 3724 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 04, 2023 |
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