Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
3 pending office actions • 1 art units • 3 examiners • 0 of 3 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 3 patents granted in the last 365 days
M E P Macchine Elettroniche Piegatrici S P A is managing 3 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed among 3 distinct examiners, yet all are located within 1 distinct art unit. This concentration suggests that the technical subject matter is closely related and governed by the same art unit supervisors.
IBEKWE, DARLINGTON NDUKA is the busiest examiner, currently handling 1 pending office action. This is one of the 3 pending office actions for the company. The alignment of multiple distinct examiners within 1 art unit provides an opportunity to compare examination styles within a consistent technical framework.
Practitioners should look for trends in how this specific art unit interprets mechanical medical device claims. With 3 distinct examiners involved, the applicant can compare different approaches to the company's technical claims. The concentration in 1 distinct art unit allows for a unified strategy regarding technical arguments and prior art interpretations. This focus helps in maintaining a cohesive narrative across all pending applications in the portfolio. The applicant can focus on building a consistent body of evidence that satisfies the specific requirements of this administrative group.
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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 2 (67%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IBEKWE, DARLINGTON NDUKA | 1 | 33.3% | +100.0% |
| SULLIVAN, DEBRA M | 1 | 78.4% | +17.2% |
| TOLAN, EDWARD THOMAS | 1 | 78.0% | +16.0% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18834527 | APPARATUS AND METHOD TO COLLECT PRODUCTS, IN PARTICULAR METAL PRODUCTS, FROM A WORK MACHINE | IBEKWE, DARLINGTON NDUKA | — |
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 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18030406 | DRAWING UNIT AND CORRESPONDING METHOD FOR METAL PRODUCTS | TOLAN, EDWARD THOMAS | 156d overdue |
| 18834527 | APPARATUS AND METHOD TO COLLECT PRODUCTS, IN PARTICULAR METAL PRODUCTS, FROM A WORK MACHINE | IBEKWE, DARLINGTON NDUKA | — |
| 18717265 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR BENDING OBLONG METAL PRODUCTS | SULLIVAN, DEBRA M | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3725 | 3 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18834527 | APPARATUS AND METHOD TO COLLECT PRODUCTS, IN PARTICULAR METAL PRODUCTS, FROM A WORK MACHINE | IBEKWE, DARLINGTON NDUKA | 3725 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jul 30, 2024 |
| 18717265 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR BENDING OBLONG METAL PRODUCTS | SULLIVAN, DEBRA M | 3725 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 06, 2024 |
| 18030406 | DRAWING UNIT AND CORRESPONDING METHOD FOR METAL PRODUCTS | TOLAN, EDWARD THOMAS | 3725 | §103 | Final Rejection | 156d overdue | Pending | Apr 05, 2023 |
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