Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
8 pending office actions • 4 art units • 8 examiners • 0 of 8 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 7 patents granted in the last 365 days
Medela AG currently has 8 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed among 8 distinct examiners, meaning no single official is handling multiple cases. This requires the applicant to manage separate examiner relationships for each filing, which can lead to varied prosecution experiences.
The 8 pending office actions are concentrated within 4 distinct art units, suggesting that multiple examiners are working within the same technical groups. FERREIRA, CATHERINE M is the busiest examiner with 1 pending office action. The concentration in 4 distinct art units may allow for some consistency in prosecution strategy despite the number of examiners involved.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 4 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. 4 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 | 4 (50%) |
| §102 only | 1 (12%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (38%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FERREIRA, CATHERINE M | 1 | 39.5% | +33.1% |
| VOKES, KATHLEEN PAIGE | 1 | 56.3% | +27.5% |
| HAYMAN, IMANI N | 1 | 71.7% | +25.3% |
| STIMPERT, PHILIP EARL | 1 | 63.3% | +48.7% |
| WITTLIFF, KATERINA ANNA | 1 | 35.0% | +18.8% |
| SMITH, PETER DANIEL | 1 | 51.3% | +48.8% |
| HAN, SETH | 1 | 59.6% | +27.1% |
| FARRAR, LAUREN PENG | 1 | 78.7% | +15.6% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17999840 | Conveying Device for Body Fluid | HAN, SETH | 54d |
| 19103134 | Breathable Bra | FERREIRA, CATHERINE M | — |
| 18805268 | BREAST PUMP AND SET OF VACUUM CURVES | VOKES, KATHLEEN PAIGE | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18265181 | Medical Suction Device, Suction Pump and Method for Controlling the Same | SMITH, PETER DANIEL | 8d overdue |
| 17628849 | MOTOR-DRIVEN MEDICAL SUCTION PUMP | FARRAR, LAUREN PENG | 4d overdue |
| 17999840 | Conveying Device for Body Fluid | HAN, SETH | 54d |
| 18270176 | ENTERAL FEEDING TUBE WITH POLYGONAL CONFIGURATION | WITTLIFF, KATERINA ANNA | 70d |
| 19103134 | Breathable Bra | FERREIRA, CATHERINE M | — |
| 18805268 | BREAST PUMP AND SET OF VACUUM CURVES | VOKES, KATHLEEN PAIGE | — |
| 18628035 | METHOD FOR MANAGING BREAST MILK EXPRESSION | HAYMAN, IMANI N | — |
| 18564962 | System for Detecting Breast Pump Properties | STIMPERT, PHILIP EARL | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3783 | 4 |
| 3781 | 2 |
| 3732 | 1 |
| 2841 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19103134 | Breathable Bra | FERREIRA, CATHERINE M | 3732 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 11, 2025 |
| 18805268 | BREAST PUMP AND SET OF VACUUM CURVES | VOKES, KATHLEEN PAIGE | 3783 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 14, 2024 |
| 18628035 | METHOD FOR MANAGING BREAST MILK EXPRESSION | HAYMAN, IMANI N | 2841 | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Apr 05, 2024 |
| 18564962 | System for Detecting Breast Pump Properties | STIMPERT, PHILIP EARL | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 28, 2023 |
| 18270176 | ENTERAL FEEDING TUBE WITH POLYGONAL CONFIGURATION | WITTLIFF, KATERINA ANNA | 3783 | §103 | Final Rejection | 70d | Pending | Jun 28, 2023 |
| 18265181 | Medical Suction Device, Suction Pump and Method for Controlling the Same | SMITH, PETER DANIEL | 3781 | §103 | Final Rejection | 8d overdue | Pending | Jun 02, 2023 |
| 17999840 | Conveying Device for Body Fluid | HAN, SETH | 3781 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | 54d | Pending | Nov 23, 2022 |
| 17628849 | MOTOR-DRIVEN MEDICAL SUCTION PUMP | FARRAR, LAUREN PENG | 3783 | §103 | Final Rejection | 4d overdue | Pending | Jan 20, 2022 |
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Start Free TrialMedela AG has 8 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 4 art units and 8 examiners.
Catherine M Ferreira has the most, with 1 of Medela AG's pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
