Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
8 pending office actions • 5 art units • 8 examiners • 0 of 8 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 13 patents granted in the last 365 days
Hydrogenics Corporation is currently overseeing 8 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These 8 pending office actions are being handled by 8 distinct examiners, meaning that no two pending cases are assigned to the same individual. These examiners are spread across 5 distinct art units, which suggests a diverse range of technical subject matter within the Chemistry & Materials field.
JONES, OLIVIA ANN is listed as the busiest examiner, though she only has 1 busiest examiner pending office action under her review. This reflects a decentralized examiner assignment for the 8 pending office actions. With 5 distinct art units involved, practitioners must be prepared to navigate multiple sets of internal guidelines while managing the 8 pending office actions.
The distribution of 8 pending office actions among 8 distinct examiners across 5 distinct art units indicates a broad prosecution front. Because the busiest examiner, JONES, OLIVIA ANN, only manages 1 busiest examiner pending office action, the company's legal strategy must be adaptable to 8 different examiner perspectives. This 8-action portfolio in Chemistry & Materials represents a significant administrative undertaking across 5 distinct 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 |
|---|---|
| §101 + other | 1 (12%) |
| §103 only | 3 (38%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 4 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| JONES, OLIVIA ANN | 1 | 58.6% | +52.3% |
| HOLBROOK, MIA KEILANI | 1 | 50.0% | +100.0% |
| LOVASZ, MYLES ALAN | 1 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| ERDMAN, CHAD G | 1 | 80.1% | +18.0% |
| ZEMUI, NATHANAEL T | 1 | 56.0% | +24.1% |
| CONTRERAS, CIEL P | 1 | 54.3% | +33.6% |
| SHEIKH, HAROON S | 1 | 70.8% | +18.3% |
| KERNS, KEVIN P | 1 | 79.0% | +21.2% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18057534 | FUEL CELL STACK HUMIDIFICATION SYSTEM | SHEIKH, HAROON S | 28d |
| 18572393 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REDUCING COSTS AND PARASITIC LOADS WHEN USING AN EJECTOR WITH A FUEL CELL | JONES, OLIVIA ANN | — |
| 18526962 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OPERATING A FUEL CELL COMPRESSOR AS A COOLANT HEATER | HOLBROOK, MIA KEILANI | — |
| 18561586 | NON-UNIFORM REACTANT CHANNELS IN BIPOLAR PLATES FOR FUEL CELLS | LOVASZ, MYLES ALAN | — |
| 18460333 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MAXIMIZING HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES | ERDMAN, CHAD G | — |
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 7 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18057534 | FUEL CELL STACK HUMIDIFICATION SYSTEM | SHEIKH, HAROON S | 28d |
| 18572393 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REDUCING COSTS AND PARASITIC LOADS WHEN USING AN EJECTOR WITH A FUEL CELL | JONES, OLIVIA ANN | — |
| 18526962 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OPERATING A FUEL CELL COMPRESSOR AS A COOLANT HEATER | HOLBROOK, MIA KEILANI | — |
| 18460333 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MAXIMIZING HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES | ERDMAN, CHAD G | — |
| 18325724 | HYBRID BIPOLAR PLATE FOR A FUEL CELL AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME | ZEMUI, NATHANAEL T | — |
| 18304609 | HYDROGEN DEGASSING USING MEMBRANE | CONTRERAS, CIEL P | — |
| 17837721 | OPERATING SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF USING A PROPORTIONAL CONTROL VALVE IN A FUEL CELL SYSTEM | KERNS, KEVIN P | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1759 | 1 |
| 1727 | 1 |
| 1794 | 1 |
| 1751 | 1 |
| 1735 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18572393 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REDUCING COSTS AND PARASITIC LOADS WHEN USING AN EJECTOR WITH A FUEL CELL | JONES, OLIVIA ANN | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 20, 2023 |
| 18526962 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OPERATING A FUEL CELL COMPRESSOR AS A COOLANT HEATER | HOLBROOK, MIA KEILANI | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 01, 2023 |
| 18561586 | NON-UNIFORM REACTANT CHANNELS IN BIPOLAR PLATES FOR FUEL CELLS | LOVASZ, MYLES ALAN | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 16, 2023 |
| 18460333 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MAXIMIZING HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES | ERDMAN, CHAD G | 1759 | §101§102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 01, 2023 |
| 18325724 | HYBRID BIPOLAR PLATE FOR A FUEL CELL AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME | ZEMUI, NATHANAEL T | 1727 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 30, 2023 |
| 18304609 | HYDROGEN DEGASSING USING MEMBRANE | CONTRERAS, CIEL P | 1794 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 21, 2023 |
| 18057534 | FUEL CELL STACK HUMIDIFICATION SYSTEM | SHEIKH, HAROON S | 1751 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 28d | Pending | Nov 21, 2022 |
| 17837721 | OPERATING SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF USING A PROPORTIONAL CONTROL VALVE IN A FUEL CELL SYSTEM | KERNS, KEVIN P | 1735 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 10, 2022 |
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