Technology areas: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals • Chemistry & Materials
14 pending office actions • 8 art units • 14 examiners • 0 of 14 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 6 patents granted in the last 365 days
KIKKOMAN Corporation is managing a portfolio of 14 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These 14 actions are distributed among 14 distinct examiners, which is a high degree of fragmentation. This means that every single pending matter is being reviewed by a different individual, requiring the company to navigate 14 different sets of examiner preferences and communication styles simultaneously.
Despite the high number of examiners, they are concentrated within 8 distinct art units. This suggests that while the examiners are all different, there is technical overlap, with multiple examiners working within the same art units. BEKKER, KELLY JO is identified as the busiest examiner, though they are only responsible for 1 pending office action. This confirms that no single examiner has more than one case in the current 14 pending office actions. Practitioners must be prepared for a wide variety of examination approaches across the 8 art units, as the 14 distinct examiners will likely provide a broad range of feedback on the company's chemistry and materials applications.
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 | 7 (50%) |
| §112 only | 1 (7%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (7%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (36%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEKKER, KELLY JO | 1 | 16.8% | +35.1% |
| JOHNSON, NICOLE F | 1 | 87.4% | +7.3% |
| ROBINSON, HOPE A | 1 | 67.7% | +43.0% |
| CHOWDHURY, IQBAL HOSSAIN | 1 | 73.6% | +57.6% |
| SMITH, CHAIM A | 1 | 39.0% | +50.9% |
| MERCHLINSKY, JOSEPH CULLEN | 1 | 5.9% | -6.3% |
| LANKFORD JR, LEON B | 1 | 70.0% | +31.5% |
| FRONDA, CHRISTIAN L | 1 | 82.5% | +14.3% |
| TURNER, FELICIA C | 1 | 26.2% | +30.2% |
| GERLA, STEPHANIE RAE | 1 | 16.3% | +30.6% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18870027 | TRANSDERMAL CURRENT-CARRYING PATCH | JOHNSON, NICOLE F | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18246060 | METHOD FOR IMPROVING THE STABILITY OF A COMPOSITION COMPRISING A FLAVIN-DEPENDENT LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE | FRONDA, CHRISTIAN L | 16d overdue |
| 18691627 | SOY SAUCE RICH IN ORGANIC ACID | MERCHLINSKY, JOSEPH CULLEN | 40d |
| 18019872 | Food/Beverage Article | GERLA, STEPHANIE RAE | 40d |
| 17911562 | Fermented Soy Beverage Concentrate and Method for Producing the Same | JACOBSON, MICHELE LYNN | 63d |
| 18879527 | FERMENTED SEASONING | BEKKER, KELLY JO | — |
| 18867974 | NUCLEIC ACID MODIFIED TO OBTAIN ENHANCED ERGOTHIONEINE PRODUCTIVITY, AND MICROORGANISM HAVING GENETIC MODIFICATION | ROBINSON, HOPE A | — |
| 18751259 | LIQUID CONCENTRATE FOR SEASONING, WOOD PIECE USABLE AS FERMENTATION INDEX FOR SEASONING, KIT FOR MANUFACTURING SEASONING, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SEASONING, SEASONING, AND THICKENED SEASONING | SMITH, CHAIM A | — |
| 18041146 | Seasoning From Malted Rice Used as Raw Material | TURNER, FELICIA C | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18246060 | METHOD FOR IMPROVING THE STABILITY OF A COMPOSITION COMPRISING A FLAVIN-DEPENDENT LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE | FRONDA, CHRISTIAN L | 16d overdue |
| 18019872 | Food/Beverage Article | GERLA, STEPHANIE RAE | 40d |
| 18879527 | FERMENTED SEASONING | BEKKER, KELLY JO | — |
| 18867974 | NUCLEIC ACID MODIFIED TO OBTAIN ENHANCED ERGOTHIONEINE PRODUCTIVITY, AND MICROORGANISM HAVING GENETIC MODIFICATION | ROBINSON, HOPE A | — |
| 18729704 | RECOMBINANTLY EXPRESSED GLUTAMATE OXIDASE | CHOWDHURY, IQBAL HOSSAIN | — |
| 18751259 | LIQUID CONCENTRATE FOR SEASONING, WOOD PIECE USABLE AS FERMENTATION INDEX FOR SEASONING, KIT FOR MANUFACTURING SEASONING, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SEASONING, SEASONING, AND THICKENED SEASONING | SMITH, CHAIM A | — |
| 18294648 | NOVEL FLAVIN-DEPENDENT LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE AND METHOD FOR IMPROVING STABILITY OF LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE | LANKFORD JR, LEON B | — |
| 18041146 | Seasoning From Malted Rice Used as Raw Material | TURNER, FELICIA C | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1791 | 4 |
| 1793 | 3 |
| 1652 | 2 |
| 1792 | 1 |
| 3792 | 1 |
| 1656 | 1 |
| 1657 | 1 |
| 1655 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18879527 | FERMENTED SEASONING | BEKKER, KELLY JO | 1792 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 27, 2024 |
| 18870027 | TRANSDERMAL CURRENT-CARRYING PATCH | JOHNSON, NICOLE F | 3792 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 27, 2024 |
| 18867974 | NUCLEIC ACID MODIFIED TO OBTAIN ENHANCED ERGOTHIONEINE PRODUCTIVITY, AND MICROORGANISM HAVING GENETIC MODIFICATION | ROBINSON, HOPE A | 1652 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 21, 2024 |
| 18729704 | RECOMBINANTLY EXPRESSED GLUTAMATE OXIDASE | CHOWDHURY, IQBAL HOSSAIN | 1656 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 17, 2024 |
| 18751259 | LIQUID CONCENTRATE FOR SEASONING, WOOD PIECE USABLE AS FERMENTATION INDEX FOR SEASONING, KIT FOR MANUFACTURING SEASONING, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SEASONING, SEASONING, AND THICKENED SEASONING | SMITH, CHAIM A | 1791 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 23, 2024 |
| 18691627 | SOY SAUCE RICH IN ORGANIC ACID | MERCHLINSKY, JOSEPH CULLEN | 1791 | §103 | Final Rejection | 40d | Pending | Mar 13, 2024 |
| 18294648 | NOVEL FLAVIN-DEPENDENT LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE AND METHOD FOR IMPROVING STABILITY OF LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE | LANKFORD JR, LEON B | 1657 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 02, 2024 |
| 18246060 | METHOD FOR IMPROVING THE STABILITY OF A COMPOSITION COMPRISING A FLAVIN-DEPENDENT LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE | FRONDA, CHRISTIAN L | 1652 | §103§112Other | Final Rejection | 16d overdue | Pending | Mar 21, 2023 |
| 18041146 | Seasoning From Malted Rice Used as Raw Material | TURNER, FELICIA C | 1793 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 09, 2023 |
| 18019872 | Food/Beverage Article | GERLA, STEPHANIE RAE | 1791 | §103 | Final Rejection | 40d | Pending | Feb 06, 2023 |
| 17911562 | Fermented Soy Beverage Concentrate and Method for Producing the Same | JACOBSON, MICHELE LYNN | 1793 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 63d | Pending | Sep 14, 2022 |
| 17905506 | CONTAINER-PACKED COMPOSITION AND METHOD FOR IMPROVING FLAVOR OF CITRUS JUICE | GLIMM, CARRIE LYNN STOFFEL | 1793 | §103 | Final Rejection | 34d | Pending | Sep 02, 2022 |
| 17801033 | DEVICE FOR EVALUATING STATE OF SAMPLE, SYSTEM CONTAINING SAME, METHOD FOR EVALUATING STATE OF SAMPLE AND LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE USED THEREFOR | MOEHLMAN, ANDREW TERRY | 1655 | §103§112DPOther | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 19, 2022 |
| 17764713 | COMPOSITION PACKED IN CONTAINER, USE THEREOF, AND PROCESSED FOOD PACKED IN CONTAINER | LIU, DEBORAH YANG-HAO | 1791 | §103 | Final Rejection | 84d overdue | Pending | Mar 29, 2022 |
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Start Free TrialKIKKOMAN Corporation has 14 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 8 art units and 14 examiners.
Kelly Jo Bekker has the most, with 1 of KIKKOMAN Corporation's pending office actions.
Mostly Chemistry & Materials (USPTO Tech Center 1700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
