Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
7 pending office actions • 4 art units • 5 examiners • 0 of 7 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 36 patents granted in the last 365 days
Intercontinental Great Brands LLC currently manages 7 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. This portfolio is distributed across 4 distinct art units, indicating a range of chemical or material science applications. The prosecution work involves 5 distinct examiners, suggesting that the company interacts with a group of USPTO personnel for its active matters.
Andrew E. Merriam is identified as the busiest examiner for this portfolio, currently handling 2 pending office actions. This concentration represents a specific point of focus within the broader set of 7 pending actions. Practitioners should note that while the workload is spread across 5 distinct examiners, the involvement of Merriam accounts for a larger portion of the active cases compared to the other examiners who each handle fewer than 2 actions.
The presence of 4 distinct art units reflects technological variety relative to the total volume of work. This distribution requires a prosecution strategy that accounts for the specific practices of different units within the Chemistry & Materials sector. Monitoring the actions under Merriam may provide insights into the most active segment of the current portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 5 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. 5 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 (57%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (43%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MERRIAM, ANDREW E | 2 | 26.8% | +32.4% |
| TRAN, LIEN THUY | 2 | 28.6% | +26.5% |
| ZILBERING, ASSAF | 1 | 35.2% | +27.8% |
| TAYLOR, AUSTIN PARKER | 1 | 42.9% | +27.5% |
| HOFFMAN, SUSAN COE | 1 | 54.2% | +25.6% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17781368 | HIGH-ACID BAKED GOOD AND METHOD OF MAKING BAKED GOOD | MERRIAM, ANDREW E | 97d overdue |
| 18551439 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COATING CONFECTIONERY PRODUCT | MERRIAM, ANDREW E | 35d overdue |
| 18018840 | GLUTEN-FREE BAKED GOODS | TRAN, LIEN THUY | 17d overdue |
| 18035919 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MULTIVARIATE PREDICTIVE MODEL-BASED BAKING PROCESS CONTROL | TAYLOR, AUSTIN PARKER | 70d |
| 18281541 | A COMPOSITE BROWNIE AND COOKIE COMESTIBLE PRODUCT | TRAN, LIEN THUY | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17781368 | HIGH-ACID BAKED GOOD AND METHOD OF MAKING BAKED GOOD | MERRIAM, ANDREW E | 97d overdue |
| 17628491 | COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS TO AFFECT HUMAN GUT MICROBES | HOFFMAN, SUSAN COE | 46d overdue |
| 18551439 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COATING CONFECTIONERY PRODUCT | MERRIAM, ANDREW E | 35d overdue |
| 18018840 | GLUTEN-FREE BAKED GOODS | TRAN, LIEN THUY | 17d overdue |
| 18035919 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MULTIVARIATE PREDICTIVE MODEL-BASED BAKING PROCESS CONTROL | TAYLOR, AUSTIN PARKER | 70d |
| 18842422 | A METHOD FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CREAM CHEESE | ZILBERING, ASSAF | — |
| 18281541 | A COMPOSITE BROWNIE AND COOKIE COMESTIBLE PRODUCT | TRAN, LIEN THUY | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1791 | 2 |
| 1793 | 2 |
| 1792 | 1 |
| 1655 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18842422 | A METHOD FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A CREAM CHEESE | ZILBERING, ASSAF | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 29, 2024 |
| 18551439 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COATING CONFECTIONERY PRODUCT | MERRIAM, ANDREW E | 1791 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 35d overdue | Pending | Sep 20, 2023 |
| 18281541 | A COMPOSITE BROWNIE AND COOKIE COMESTIBLE PRODUCT | TRAN, LIEN THUY | 1793 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 11, 2023 |
| 18035919 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MULTIVARIATE PREDICTIVE MODEL-BASED BAKING PROCESS CONTROL | TAYLOR, AUSTIN PARKER | 1792 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 70d | Pending | May 08, 2023 |
| 18018840 | GLUTEN-FREE BAKED GOODS | TRAN, LIEN THUY | 1793 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 17d overdue | Pending | Jan 30, 2023 |
| 17781368 | HIGH-ACID BAKED GOOD AND METHOD OF MAKING BAKED GOOD | MERRIAM, ANDREW E | 1791 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 97d overdue | Pending | May 31, 2022 |
| 17628491 | COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS TO AFFECT HUMAN GUT MICROBES | HOFFMAN, SUSAN COE | 1655 | §103 | Final Rejection | 46d overdue | Pending | Jan 19, 2022 |
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