Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
6 pending office actions • 3 art units • 4 examiners • 0 of 6 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 4 patents granted in the last 365 days
Metso Outotec Finland OY has 6 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These matters are spread across 4 distinct examiners and 3 distinct art units. GERMAIN, ADAM ADRIEN serves as the busiest examiner, currently overseeing 2 pending office actions. This concentration means this examiner handles a portion of the total pending actions for the company. The involvement of 4 distinct examiners for 6 actions indicates that some examiners are managing multiple files while others handle only a single case.
The 6 pending office actions are distributed such that the examiners maintain a relatively low average workload per person. With 3 distinct art units involved, the prosecution strategy involves multiple technical niches within the broader Chemistry & Materials field. The fact that GERMAIN, ADAM ADRIEN has 2 pending office actions indicates a slight concentration of responsibility. This distribution suggests a moderately concentrated portfolio where a practitioner must manage relationships with a small group of examiners. The presence of several art units shows a diverse technical range for a portfolio of this size. Prosecution outcomes will depend on the individual tendencies of the 4 distinct examiners involved.
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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 3 (50%) |
| §112 only | 1 (17%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (17%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (17%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GERMAIN, ADAM ADRIEN | 2 | 33.3% | +4.9% |
| NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | 2 | 23.8% | +30.0% |
| HARP, WILLIAM RAY | 1 | 79.1% | +10.8% |
| COOLEY, CHARLES E | 1 | 79.0% | +15.2% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17918016 | A FILTER PLATE FOR A HORIZONTAL PLATE AND FRAME-TYPE FILTER, SUCH AS A TOWER PRESS | GERMAIN, ADAM ADRIEN | 22d |
| 17627933 | FLOTATION CELL | NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | — |
| 17415339 | METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR PROCESS WATER TREATMENT | NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | — |
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 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17919821 | MIXING ARRANGEMENT, MIXER SETTLER UNIT AND USE | COOLEY, CHARLES E | 61d |
| 19036893 | CHUTE LINER | HARP, WILLIAM RAY | — |
| 17627933 | FLOTATION CELL | NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | — |
| 17415339 | METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR PROCESS WATER TREATMENT | NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1777 | 2 |
| 1779 | 2 |
| 1774 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19036893 | CHUTE LINER | HARP, WILLIAM RAY | — | §102§103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 24, 2025 |
| 18012263 | FLOTATION ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD RELATED THERETO | GERMAIN, ADAM ADRIEN | 1777 | §103 | Final Rejection | 22d | Pending | Dec 22, 2022 |
| 17919821 | MIXING ARRANGEMENT, MIXER SETTLER UNIT AND USE | COOLEY, CHARLES E | 1774 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 61d | Pending | Oct 19, 2022 |
| 17918016 | A FILTER PLATE FOR A HORIZONTAL PLATE AND FRAME-TYPE FILTER, SUCH AS A TOWER PRESS | GERMAIN, ADAM ADRIEN | 1777 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 22d | Pending | Oct 10, 2022 |
| 17627933 | FLOTATION CELL | NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | 1779 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 18, 2022 |
| 17415339 | METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR PROCESS WATER TREATMENT | NGUYEN, BOI-LIEN THI | 1779 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 17, 2021 |
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