Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
26 pending office actions • 11 art units • 24 examiners • 0 of 26 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 55 patents granted in the last 365 days
Kobe Steel Ltd. demonstrates a robust presence in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area with 24 pending office actions. These matters are distributed among 22 distinct examiners, suggesting that while the volume is high, the company interacts with a wide variety of patent office personnel. This distribution across 22 distinct examiners can lead to diverse prosecution experiences even within the same technology sector.
The company's 24 pending office actions are spread across 11 distinct art units, indicating a broad technical scope within mechanical engineering. CATHERINE P SMITH is the busiest examiner for the company, currently overseeing 2 pending office actions. Since SMITH handles 2 of the actions, the vast majority of the portfolio is managed by examiners who each hold only one case. This dispersion across 11 distinct art units and 22 examiners suggests that Kobe Steel Ltd. must maintain a flexible prosecution strategy to address the varied requirements of many different examination groups.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 8 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. 8 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 |
|---|---|
| §101 + other | 2 (8%) |
| §103 only | 14 (54%) |
| §102 only | 1 (4%) |
| §112 only | 1 (4%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (4%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 7 (27%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMITH, CATHERINE P | 2 | 15.8% | +16.1% |
| KHLOK, BONITA | 2 | 49.1% | +48.3% |
| KATCOFF, MATTHEW GORDON | 1 | 69.6% | +15.7% |
| KASENGE, CHARLES R | 1 | 84.0% | +13.8% |
| HUSON, MONICA ANNE | 1 | 79.6% | +13.5% |
| LA VILLA, MICHAEL EUGENE | 1 | 75.7% | +17.9% |
| ROJAS, BERNARD | 1 | 83.0% | +7.8% |
| KATZ, DYLAN MICHAEL | 1 | 86.2% | +21.3% |
| PAPE, JOSEPH | 1 | 88.3% | +3.8% |
| ECKARDT, ADAM MICHAEL | 1 | 65.3% | +40.6% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18805640 | COLLISION PREDICTION METHOD, COLLISION PREDICTION DEVICE, AND WELDING SYSTEM | KATZ, DYLAN MICHAEL | 10d overdue |
| 18836839 | BUMPER REINFORCEMENT MEMBER AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME | PAPE, JOSEPH | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18552247 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING IRON ORE PELLETS | SMITH, CATHERINE P | 42d overdue |
| 17996042 | WELDING-INFORMATION LEARNING-MODEL GENERATION METHOD, LEARNING MODEL, PROGRAM, AND WELDING SYSTEM | JENNISON, BRIAN W | 33d |
| 19145966 | WELDING-WIRE-STRAIGHTENING APPARATUS | KATCOFF, MATTHEW GORDON | — |
| 18992091 | CONTROL INFORMATION GENERATING DEVICE, CONTROL INFORMATION GENERATING METHOD, AND PROGRAM | KASENGE, CHARLES R | — |
| 18853188 | AUTOMOBILE DOOR BEAM AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME | LA VILLA, MICHAEL EUGENE | — |
| 18841710 | SOFT-MAGNETIC WIRE, SOFT-MAGNETIC STEEL BAR, AND SOFT-MAGNETIC COMPONENT | ROJAS, BERNARD | — |
| 18577813 | METHOD FOR DISPLAYING WELDING-RELATED INFORMATION, DISPLAY APPARATUS, WELDING SYSTEM, PROGRAM, AND DISPLAY SCREEN FOR WELDING-RELATED INFORMATION | BOSS, MARISSA RAE | — |
| 18564852 | FAULT-MONITORING DEVICE, FAULT-MONITORING METHOD, WELDING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM, AND WELDING SYSTEM | WANG, FRANKLIN JEFFERSON | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18552247 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING IRON ORE PELLETS | SMITH, CATHERINE P | 42d overdue |
| 18805640 | COLLISION PREDICTION METHOD, COLLISION PREDICTION DEVICE, AND WELDING SYSTEM | KATZ, DYLAN MICHAEL | 10d overdue |
| 19145966 | WELDING-WIRE-STRAIGHTENING APPARATUS | KATCOFF, MATTHEW GORDON | — |
| 18992091 | CONTROL INFORMATION GENERATING DEVICE, CONTROL INFORMATION GENERATING METHOD, AND PROGRAM | KASENGE, CHARLES R | — |
| 18870147 | FILAMENT AND MANUFACTURED OBJECT MANUFACTURING METHOD | HUSON, MONICA ANNE | — |
| 18853188 | AUTOMOBILE DOOR BEAM AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME | LA VILLA, MICHAEL EUGENE | — |
| 18294562 | ARC SPOT WELDING METHOD FOR JOINING DISSIMILAR MATERIALS, AND DISSIMILAR MATERIAL WELDED JOINT | ECKARDT, ADAM MICHAEL | — |
| 18551436 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING PIG IRON | SMITH, CATHERINE P | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3761 | 5 |
| 1735 | 3 |
| 3725 | 1 |
| 1742 | 1 |
| 3657 | 1 |
| 2677 | 1 |
| 1734 | 1 |
| 3658 | 1 |
| 2857 | 1 |
| 3745 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19145966 | WELDING-WIRE-STRAIGHTENING APPARATUS | KATCOFF, MATTHEW GORDON | 3725 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 07, 2025 |
| 18992091 | CONTROL INFORMATION GENERATING DEVICE, CONTROL INFORMATION GENERATING METHOD, AND PROGRAM | KASENGE, CHARLES R | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 07, 2025 |
| 18870147 | FILAMENT AND MANUFACTURED OBJECT MANUFACTURING METHOD | HUSON, MONICA ANNE | 1742 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Nov 27, 2024 |
| 18853188 | AUTOMOBILE DOOR BEAM AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME | LA VILLA, MICHAEL EUGENE | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 01, 2024 |
| 18841710 | SOFT-MAGNETIC WIRE, SOFT-MAGNETIC STEEL BAR, AND SOFT-MAGNETIC COMPONENT | ROJAS, BERNARD | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 27, 2024 |
| 18805640 | COLLISION PREDICTION METHOD, COLLISION PREDICTION DEVICE, AND WELDING SYSTEM | KATZ, DYLAN MICHAEL | 3657 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 10d overdue | Pending | Aug 15, 2024 |
| 18836839 | BUMPER REINFORCEMENT MEMBER AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME | PAPE, JOSEPH | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 08, 2024 |
| 18294562 | ARC SPOT WELDING METHOD FOR JOINING DISSIMILAR MATERIALS, AND DISSIMILAR MATERIAL WELDED JOINT | ECKARDT, ADAM MICHAEL | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 02, 2024 |
| 18291556 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING MODELING DEVICE, MODELING DEVICE, AND PROGRAM | NGUYEN, PHUONG T | — | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 23, 2024 |
| 18577813 | METHOD FOR DISPLAYING WELDING-RELATED INFORMATION, DISPLAY APPARATUS, WELDING SYSTEM, PROGRAM, AND DISPLAY SCREEN FOR WELDING-RELATED INFORMATION | BOSS, MARISSA RAE | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 09, 2024 |
| 18577795 | WELDING PHENOMENON BEHAVIOR MEASURING METHOD, MEASURING DEVICE, WELDING SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM | ZHAO, CHRISTINE NMN | 2677 | §103 | Final Rejection | 15d | Pending | Jan 09, 2024 |
| 18564852 | FAULT-MONITORING DEVICE, FAULT-MONITORING METHOD, WELDING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM, AND WELDING SYSTEM | WANG, FRANKLIN JEFFERSON | — | §101§102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 28, 2023 |
| 18559427 | PIG IRON-PRODUCING METHOD AND IRON ORE MATERIAL | WANG, NICHOLAS A | 1734 | §103§112DP | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Nov 07, 2023 |
| 18558949 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING STEEL SHEET FOR COLD ROLLING AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING COLD-ROLLED STEEL SHEET | HILL, STEPHANI A | 1735 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Nov 03, 2023 |
| 18556273 | WELDING SYSTEM, WELDING METHOD, WELDING ROBOT, AND PROGRAM | O'MALLEY, JOHN MARTIN | 3658 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 73d overdue | Pending | Oct 19, 2023 |
| 18555210 | ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING METHOD, ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING APPARATUS, AND PROGRAM FOR MANUFACTURING ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED ARTICLE | ELLIOTT, TOPAZ L | — | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 12, 2023 |
| 18552247 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING IRON ORE PELLETS | SMITH, CATHERINE P | 1735 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 42d overdue | Pending | Sep 25, 2023 |
| 18551436 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING PIG IRON | SMITH, CATHERINE P | 1735 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 20, 2023 |
| 18263098 | METHOD FOR PREDICTING DEFORMATION OF ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED OBJECT | PARK, HYUN D | 2857 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 8d | Pending | Jul 26, 2023 |
| 18330773 | WELDING-WIRE-STRAIGHTENING APPARATUS | TEKA, ABIY | 3745 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 07, 2023 |
| 18253839 | WELD JOINT AND PRODUCTION METHOD THEREFOR | KHLOK, BONITA | 3761 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 22, 2023 |
| 18252127 | FLUX-CORED WIRE AND GAS-SHIELDED ARC WELDING METHOD | WEN, KEVIN GUANHUA | 3761 | §103 | Final Rejection | 8d | Pending | May 08, 2023 |
| 18164882 | WORKPIECE MEASUREMENT METHOD, WORKPIECE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM | KUDO, KEN | 2671 | §101§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 06, 2023 |
| 18006140 | BUILD PLAN ASSISTANCE METHOD AND BUILD PLAN ASSISTANCE DEVICE | FERDOUSI, FAHMIDA NMN | 3761 | §103 | Final Rejection | 14d | Pending | Jan 19, 2023 |
| 17996042 | WELDING-INFORMATION LEARNING-MODEL GENERATION METHOD, LEARNING MODEL, PROGRAM, AND WELDING SYSTEM | JENNISON, BRIAN W | 3761 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 33d | Pending | Oct 12, 2022 |
| 17441889 | Ni-BASED ALLOY FLUX-CORED WIRE | KHLOK, BONITA | 3761 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 22, 2021 |
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