Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
24 pending office actions • 11 art units • 23 examiners • 0 of 24 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 66 patents granted in the last 365 days
Mako Surgical Corp. manages 24 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed among 22 distinct examiners, showing that most pending matters are being reviewed by different individuals. The portfolio's technical scope covers 11 distinct art units, reflecting a diverse set of classifications within the medical device sector.
The busiest examiner, KU, SI MING, is currently managing 2 busiest examiner pending actions. This is a low concentration relative to the 24 total pending office actions, indicating a decentralized prosecution profile. The presence of 22 distinct examiners across 11 distinct art units suggests that the company's patent outcomes are subject to many different individual interpretations of patentability. Practitioners should be prepared to engage with a variety of examiners, as there is very little overlap in the current workload. This distribution across 11 distinct art units indicates that the company's innovations are being reviewed by several different technical groups within the patent office, requiring a broad understanding of medical and mechanical examination standards.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 3 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. 3 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 | 1 (4%) |
| §103 only | 6 (25%) |
| §102 only | 4 (17%) |
| Double-patenting only | 3 (12%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 2 (8%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 8 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KU, SI MING | 2 | 72.7% | +32.7% |
| MALDONADO, STEVEN | 1 | 26.9% | +42.9% |
| KATZ, DYLAN MICHAEL | 1 | 86.2% | +21.3% |
| WEBER, TAMARA L | 1 | 87.3% | +11.9% |
| PARK, PATRICIA JOO YOUNG | 1 | 57.8% | +14.7% |
| NGUYEN, HIEP VAN | 1 | 55.3% | +28.8% |
| FIGUEROA, JAIME | 1 | 85.4% | +13.1% |
| EPPS, TODD MICHAEL | 1 | 72.7% | +7.2% |
| ANTHONY, MARIA CATHERINE | 1 | 69.3% | +30.0% |
| WERNER, DAVID N | 1 | 68.1% | +16.5% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19298376 | Trackable Protective Packaging For Tools And Methods For Calibrating Tool Installation Using The Same | WEBER, TAMARA L | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18221690 | REGISTRATION TOOLS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS | BYKHOVSKI, ALEXEI | 14d |
| 19372093 | Optimization Of Tracker-Based Surgical Navigation | MALDONADO, STEVEN | — |
| 19318737 | ROBOTIC SURGICAL SYSTEM WITH MOTORIZED MOVEMENT TO A STARTING POSE FOR A REGISTRATION OR CALIBRATION ROUTINE | KATZ, DYLAN MICHAEL | — |
| 19188452 | System And Method For Aligning An End Effector To A Haptic Object | FIGUEROA, JAIME | — |
| 19085568 | Evaluation Of Surgical Instrument Usage Using Sensed Magnetism | ANTHONY, MARIA CATHERINE | — |
| 19021917 | INTEGRATED ROBOTIC SURGERY SYSTEM | LYNCH, ROBERT A | — |
| 18985517 | Tracker For Magnetically Coupling To Robotic Guide Tube | KUO, JONATHAN T | — |
| 18947016 | Tool Assembly, Systems, And Methods For Manipulating Tissue | PLIONIS, NICHOLAS J | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19372093 | Optimization Of Tracker-Based Surgical Navigation | MALDONADO, STEVEN | — |
| 19318737 | ROBOTIC SURGICAL SYSTEM WITH MOTORIZED MOVEMENT TO A STARTING POSE FOR A REGISTRATION OR CALIBRATION ROUTINE | KATZ, DYLAN MICHAEL | — |
| 19298376 | Trackable Protective Packaging For Tools And Methods For Calibrating Tool Installation Using The Same | WEBER, TAMARA L | — |
| 19240226 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SURGICAL SAW BLADE CUTTING ON HARD TISSUE | KU, SI MING | — |
| 19231846 | SOFT TISSUE CUTTING INSTRUMENT AND METHOD OF USE | PARK, PATRICIA JOO YOUNG | — |
| 19221598 | Surgical Operating Room Setup Involving Head-Mounted Device | NGUYEN, HIEP VAN | — |
| 19188452 | System And Method For Aligning An End Effector To A Haptic Object | FIGUEROA, JAIME | — |
| 19085568 | Evaluation Of Surgical Instrument Usage Using Sensed Magnetism | ANTHONY, MARIA CATHERINE | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3797 | 2 |
| 3657 | 2 |
| 3798 | 2 |
| 3775 | 2 |
| 3771 | 2 |
| 3632 | 1 |
| 3786 | 1 |
| 3773 | 1 |
| 3796 | 1 |
| 3774 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19372093 | Optimization Of Tracker-Based Surgical Navigation | MALDONADO, STEVEN | 3797 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 28, 2025 |
| 19318737 | ROBOTIC SURGICAL SYSTEM WITH MOTORIZED MOVEMENT TO A STARTING POSE FOR A REGISTRATION OR CALIBRATION ROUTINE | KATZ, DYLAN MICHAEL | 3657 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 04, 2025 |
| 19298376 | Trackable Protective Packaging For Tools And Methods For Calibrating Tool Installation Using The Same | WEBER, TAMARA L | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 13, 2025 |
| 19240226 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SURGICAL SAW BLADE CUTTING ON HARD TISSUE | KU, SI MING | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 17, 2025 |
| 19231846 | SOFT TISSUE CUTTING INSTRUMENT AND METHOD OF USE | PARK, PATRICIA JOO YOUNG | 3798 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 09, 2025 |
| 19221598 | Surgical Operating Room Setup Involving Head-Mounted Device | NGUYEN, HIEP VAN | — | §102Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 29, 2025 |
| 19188452 | System And Method For Aligning An End Effector To A Haptic Object | FIGUEROA, JAIME | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 24, 2025 |
| 19178937 | Joint For A Support Arm And Support Arm Including The Joint | EPPS, TODD MICHAEL | 3632 | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 15, 2025 |
| 19085568 | Evaluation Of Surgical Instrument Usage Using Sensed Magnetism | ANTHONY, MARIA CATHERINE | 3775 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 20, 2025 |
| 19034736 | Systems And Methods For Tracking Objects | WERNER, DAVID N | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 23, 2025 |
| 19032835 | Automated Determination Of Bone Mineral Density From A Medical Image | CHEN, BIAO | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 21, 2025 |
| 19032828 | Techniques For Patient-Specific Milling Path Generation | BECCIA, CHRISTOPHER J | — | DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 21, 2025 |
| 19021917 | INTEGRATED ROBOTIC SURGERY SYSTEM | LYNCH, ROBERT A | 3771 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 15, 2025 |
| 19018759 | MOTORIZED JOINT POSITIONER | ALBERS, KEVIN S | 3786 | §112DP | Final Rejection | 78d | Pending | Jan 13, 2025 |
| 18985517 | Tracker For Magnetically Coupling To Robotic Guide Tube | KUO, JONATHAN T | 3771 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 18, 2024 |
| 18947016 | Tool Assembly, Systems, And Methods For Manipulating Tissue | PLIONIS, NICHOLAS J | 3773 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 14, 2024 |
| 18925136 | Techniques For Detecting Errors Or Loss Of Accuracy In A Surgical Robotic System | JEN, MINGJEN | 3657 | §102 | Final Rejection | 5d overdue | Pending | Oct 24, 2024 |
| 18903240 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLANTATION OF SPINAL PLATE | HARVEY, JULIANNA NANCY | — | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 01, 2024 |
| 18728391 | Systems And Methods For Guiding Movement Of A Hand-Held Medical Robotic Instrument | PRUITT, HALEY NICOLE | 3796 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 11, 2024 |
| 18768405 | Surgical Tracker Assemblies With Optimized Size, Weight, And Accuracy | SANTOS RODRIGUEZ, JOSEPH M | 3797 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 10, 2024 |
| 18734863 | Assembly And Method For Mounting A Tracker To Bone | KU, SI MING | 3775 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 05, 2024 |
| 18237182 | SURGICAL SYSTEM WITH WORKFLOW MONITORING | WOZNICKI, JACQUELINE | 3774 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 23, 2023 |
| 18221690 | REGISTRATION TOOLS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS | BYKHOVSKI, ALEXEI | 3798 | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | 14d | Pending | Jul 13, 2023 |
| 17828488 | IMPLANT PLANNING AND GUIDANCE WITH SOFT TISSUE ASSESSMENT | WOITACH, JOSEPH T | 1631 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 31, 2022 |
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