Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
6 pending office actions • 1 art units • 6 examiners • 0 of 6 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 3 patents granted in the last 365 days
Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha Ltd. is currently managing 6 pending office actions within the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals technology area. These actions are distributed among 6 distinct examiners, meaning every pending matter is being reviewed by a different individual. Despite this variety of examiners, all 6 actions are concentrated within 1 distinct art unit.
MERCIER, MELISSA S is identified as the busiest examiner for the company, holding 1 pending office action. Because there are 6 pending office actions and 6 distinct examiners, the workload is distributed with 1 action per examiner. This requires the applicant to navigate 6 different examiner styles while remaining within the technical standards of a single art unit.
The involvement of 1 distinct art unit for 6 pending office actions suggests a consistent technical focus for the company's Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals filings. However, the use of 6 distinct examiners introduces variation in the prosecution process. Practitioners must be prepared to address the specific requirements of 6 different officials while leveraging the consistent prior art environment of the single art unit.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 2 (33%) |
| §102 only | 1 (17%) |
| §112 only | 1 (17%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (33%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MERCIER, MELISSA S | 1 | 72.1% | +5.8% |
| LOVE, TREVOR M | 1 | 43.0% | +26.7% |
| MCDOWELL, BRIAN E | 1 | 74.1% | +30.8% |
| PIRO, NICHOLAS ANTHONY | 1 | 45.9% | +35.9% |
| JUSTICE, GINA CHIEUN YU | 1 | 55.6% | +8.4% |
| PIPIC, ALMA | 1 | 54.6% | +54.7% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18996242 | BROWN RICE QUALITY IMPROVING AGENT AND QUALITY IMPROVING METHOD | MERCIER, MELISSA S | — |
| 18881915 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING UNDESIRED PLANTS AND PROMOTING GROWTH OF USEFUL PLANTS | LOVE, TREVOR 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 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17630404 | AGRICULTURAL FORMULATION | PIPIC, ALMA | 21d |
| 18881915 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING UNDESIRED PLANTS AND PROMOTING GROWTH OF USEFUL PLANTS | LOVE, TREVOR M | — |
| 18849719 | PYRIDAZINONE COMPOUND OR SALT THEREOF AND PEST CONTROL AGENT CONTAINING IT | MCDOWELL, BRIAN E | — |
| 18568296 | TITANIUM OXIDE PARTICLES AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING SAME | PIRO, NICHOLAS ANTHONY | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1617 | 2 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18996242 | BROWN RICE QUALITY IMPROVING AGENT AND QUALITY IMPROVING METHOD | MERCIER, MELISSA S | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 17, 2025 |
| 18881915 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING UNDESIRED PLANTS AND PROMOTING GROWTH OF USEFUL PLANTS | LOVE, TREVOR M | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 07, 2025 |
| 18849719 | PYRIDAZINONE COMPOUND OR SALT THEREOF AND PEST CONTROL AGENT CONTAINING IT | MCDOWELL, BRIAN E | — | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 23, 2024 |
| 18568296 | TITANIUM OXIDE PARTICLES AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING SAME | PIRO, NICHOLAS ANTHONY | — | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 08, 2023 |
| 17784851 | METHOD WHICH BRINGS BENEFITS TO HEALTH AND/OR GROWTH OF USEFUL PLANTS | JUSTICE, GINA CHIEUN YU | 1617 | §103 | Final Rejection | 30d overdue | Pending | Jun 13, 2022 |
| 17630404 | AGRICULTURAL FORMULATION | PIPIC, ALMA | 1617 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 21d | Pending | Jan 26, 2022 |
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