Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
10 pending office actions • 8 art units • 9 examiners • 0 of 10 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 44 patents granted in the last 365 days
HRL Laboratories LLC maintains a diverse patent portfolio within the Chemistry & Materials technology area, currently managing 10 pending office actions. These actions are spread across 8 distinct art units, indicating a broad technical range within the chemistry sector. The prosecution involves 9 distinct examiners, which suggests that almost every pending matter is being reviewed by a different individual at the patent office.
The busiest examiner for the company is FRITCHMAN, REBECCA M, who is currently handling 2 pending cases. This leaves the other pending office actions to be distributed among the other distinct examiners. Such a high number of distinct art units and examiners requires a multifaceted prosecution strategy, as practitioners must navigate the specific requirements of 8 different organizational units. The distribution of 10 pending office actions across 9 distinct examiners highlights a lack of examiner concentration, necessitating individual attention to the unique tendencies of nearly every examiner involved in the portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 6 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. 6 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 | 4 (40%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (10%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (50%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FRITCHMAN, REBECCA M | 2 | 45.7% | +35.3% |
| KAHN, RACHEL | 1 | 27.9% | +17.4% |
| WOODWARD, ANA LUCRECIA | 1 | 73.4% | +16.4% |
| HEVEY, JOHN A | 1 | 61.6% | +19.9% |
| GARDINER, JOSH CHARLES | 1 | — | — |
| AHVAZI, BIJAN | 1 | 63.2% | +47.3% |
| CHAU, LINDA N | 1 | 44.6% | +16.0% |
| HOLT, ANDRIAE M | 1 | 49.3% | +22.9% |
| KWON, JUN | 1 | 41.0% | +47.2% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19039332 | CLOSED-LOOP THERMOSET POLYMERS WITH IMPROVED PROCESSIBILITY AND TUNABLE DEGRADATION | KAHN, RACHEL | 2d overdue |
| 18799575 | DURABLE, BROADBAND-TRANSPARENT POLYOXALAMIDE POLYMERS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING THE SAME | WOODWARD, ANA LUCRECIA | 41d |
| 18197060 | WAVELENGTH-TUNABLE PHOTOCHROMIC COMPOSITIONS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS UTILIZING CARBOXYLATE LIGANDS | AHVAZI, BIJAN | 41d |
| 18114202 | THERMALLY STABLE, CLADDED PERMANENT MAGNETS, AND COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR MAKING THE SAME | CHAU, LINDA N | 69d |
| 18799082 | ARCHITECTED MATERIALS WITH CONTROLLED PERMEABILITY AND METHODS FOR MAKING AND USING THE SAME | HEVEY, JOHN A | — |
| 17852307 | PHASE-SEPARATED ANTIMICROBIAL COATINGS, AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING THE SAME | HOLT, ANDRIAE M | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17680195 | BIPHASIC COATINGS WITH CHEMICAL SENSING, AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING THE SAME | FRITCHMAN, REBECCA M | 5d overdue |
| 17064566 | AUTONOMOUS BEHAVIOR GENERATION WITH HIERARCHICAL REINFORCEMENT LEARNING | KWON, JUN | 4d overdue |
| 19039332 | CLOSED-LOOP THERMOSET POLYMERS WITH IMPROVED PROCESSIBILITY AND TUNABLE DEGRADATION | KAHN, RACHEL | 2d overdue |
| 18799575 | DURABLE, BROADBAND-TRANSPARENT POLYOXALAMIDE POLYMERS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING THE SAME | WOODWARD, ANA LUCRECIA | 41d |
| 18197060 | WAVELENGTH-TUNABLE PHOTOCHROMIC COMPOSITIONS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS UTILIZING CARBOXYLATE LIGANDS | AHVAZI, BIJAN | 41d |
| 18114202 | THERMALLY STABLE, CLADDED PERMANENT MAGNETS, AND COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR MAKING THE SAME | CHAU, LINDA N | 69d |
| 18799082 | ARCHITECTED MATERIALS WITH CONTROLLED PERMEABILITY AND METHODS FOR MAKING AND USING THE SAME | HEVEY, JOHN A | — |
| 18074988 | SENSORS FOR ANTIMICROBIAL BIPHASIC POLYMERS, AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS INCORPORATING THE SAME | FRITCHMAN, REBECCA M | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1758 | 2 |
| 1766 | 1 |
| 1765 | 1 |
| 1735 | 1 |
| 1763 | 1 |
| 1785 | 1 |
| 1614 | 1 |
| 2127 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19039332 | CLOSED-LOOP THERMOSET POLYMERS WITH IMPROVED PROCESSIBILITY AND TUNABLE DEGRADATION | KAHN, RACHEL | 1766 | §103 | Final Rejection | 2d overdue | Pending | Jan 28, 2025 |
| 18799575 | DURABLE, BROADBAND-TRANSPARENT POLYOXALAMIDE POLYMERS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING THE SAME | WOODWARD, ANA LUCRECIA | 1765 | §102§103§112Other | Non-Final OA | 41d | Pending | Aug 09, 2024 |
| 18799082 | ARCHITECTED MATERIALS WITH CONTROLLED PERMEABILITY AND METHODS FOR MAKING AND USING THE SAME | HEVEY, JOHN A | 1735 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 09, 2024 |
| 18694969 | SWITCHED PIXEL ARRAY LiDAR SENSOR AND PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT | GARDINER, JOSH CHARLES | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 23, 2024 |
| 18197060 | WAVELENGTH-TUNABLE PHOTOCHROMIC COMPOSITIONS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS UTILIZING CARBOXYLATE LIGANDS | AHVAZI, BIJAN | 1763 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | 41d | Pending | May 13, 2023 |
| 18114202 | THERMALLY STABLE, CLADDED PERMANENT MAGNETS, AND COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR MAKING THE SAME | CHAU, LINDA N | 1785 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 69d | Pending | Feb 24, 2023 |
| 18074988 | SENSORS FOR ANTIMICROBIAL BIPHASIC POLYMERS, AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS INCORPORATING THE SAME | FRITCHMAN, REBECCA M | 1758 | §112DPOther | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 05, 2022 |
| 17852307 | PHASE-SEPARATED ANTIMICROBIAL COATINGS, AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING THE SAME | HOLT, ANDRIAE M | 1614 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 28, 2022 |
| 17680195 | BIPHASIC COATINGS WITH CHEMICAL SENSING, AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING THE SAME | FRITCHMAN, REBECCA M | 1758 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 5d overdue | Pending | Feb 24, 2022 |
| 17064566 | AUTONOMOUS BEHAVIOR GENERATION WITH HIERARCHICAL REINFORCEMENT LEARNING | KWON, JUN | 2127 | §103 | Final Rejection | 4d overdue | Pending | Oct 06, 2020 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free Trial