Technology areas: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
12 pending office actions • 6 art units • 10 examiners • 0 of 12 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 38 patents granted in the last 365 days
Mueller International LLC is active in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. The company currently has 14 pending office actions. These 14 pending office actions are distributed among 11 distinct examiners. This distribution suggests that the company's prosecution team must manage a variety of examiner styles and expectations across its portfolio.
The portfolio involves 7 distinct art units. This presence in 7 distinct art units indicates that the company's technical innovations are reviewed by several different specialized groups within the patent office. DEAL, DAVID R is the busiest examiner for this portfolio, currently overseeing 3 pending office actions. While DEAL, DAVID R has the highest individual workload, these 3 pending office actions represent only a portion of the total pending matters.
With 11 distinct examiners and 7 distinct art units, the prosecution strategy requires coordination across multiple technical divisions. Practitioners should be prepared for the specific requirements of each of the 7 distinct art units. The 14 pending office actions are spread widely enough that no single examiner, including DEAL, DAVID R, handles a majority of the cases. This variety of 11 distinct examiners ensures a decentralized review process.
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 | 4 (33%) |
| §102 only | 3 (25%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 5 (42%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEAL, DAVID R | 3 | 83.5% | +12.1% |
| MURPHY, KEVIN F | 1 | 67.9% | +27.9% |
| GATES, ERIC ANDREW | 1 | 78.8% | +14.6% |
| HEWITT, JAMES M | 1 | 69.7% | +45.4% |
| HA, STEVEN S | 1 | 70.4% | +29.6% |
| FARRELL, MICHAEL THADDUES | 1 | — | — |
| LU, HAOTIAN | 1 | 61.8% | +35.3% |
| GAY, JENNIFER HAWKINS | 1 | 85.2% | +8.6% |
| LINFORD, JAMES ALBERT | 1 | 64.1% | +33.8% |
| RUFRANO, ALEXANDER TYLER | 1 | 54.5% | +27.8% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18226650 | RETRACTABLE DRILL BIT | GAY, JENNIFER HAWKINS | 28d |
| 18955319 | COMPLETION PLUG AND FITTING | DEAL, DAVID R | — |
| 18955412 | COMPLETION PLUG AND FITTING | DEAL, DAVID R | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19213213 | HYDRANT NOZZLE CAP SPACER | MURPHY, KEVIN F | — |
| 18828824 | VARIABLE LENGTH TOOL HOLDER | GATES, ERIC ANDREW | — |
| 18639605 | PRESSURIZING GASKET | DEAL, DAVID R | — |
| 18373920 | PIPE REPAIR STENT WITH FRICTION ELEMENTS | LU, HAOTIAN | — |
| 18094214 | INTEGRAL FLEXURE TAPPING SLEEVE | LINFORD, JAMES ALBERT | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18804408 | GASKET ASSEMBLY | HEWITT, JAMES M | 29d |
| 18782657 | ADDITIVELY PRODUCED ELECTROPLATED FOUNDRY TOOLING | HA, STEVEN S | 72d |
| 19213213 | HYDRANT NOZZLE CAP SPACER | MURPHY, KEVIN F | — |
| 18955319 | COMPLETION PLUG AND FITTING | DEAL, DAVID R | — |
| 18955412 | COMPLETION PLUG AND FITTING | DEAL, DAVID R | — |
| 18828824 | VARIABLE LENGTH TOOL HOLDER | GATES, ERIC ANDREW | — |
| 18639605 | PRESSURIZING GASKET | DEAL, DAVID R | — |
| 18373920 | PIPE REPAIR STENT WITH FRICTION ELEMENTS | LU, HAOTIAN | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3753 | 5 |
| 3679 | 3 |
| 3722 | 1 |
| 1735 | 1 |
| 3723 | 1 |
| 3619 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19213213 | HYDRANT NOZZLE CAP SPACER | MURPHY, KEVIN F | 3753 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 20, 2025 |
| 18955319 | COMPLETION PLUG AND FITTING | DEAL, DAVID R | 3753 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 21, 2024 |
| 18955412 | COMPLETION PLUG AND FITTING | DEAL, DAVID R | 3753 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 21, 2024 |
| 18828824 | VARIABLE LENGTH TOOL HOLDER | GATES, ERIC ANDREW | 3722 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 09, 2024 |
| 18804408 | GASKET ASSEMBLY | HEWITT, JAMES M | 3679 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 29d | Pending | Aug 14, 2024 |
| 18782657 | ADDITIVELY PRODUCED ELECTROPLATED FOUNDRY TOOLING | HA, STEVEN S | 1735 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 72d | Pending | Jul 24, 2024 |
| 18639605 | PRESSURIZING GASKET | DEAL, DAVID R | 3753 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 18, 2024 |
| 18622446 | CLAMP | FARRELL, MICHAEL THADDUES | 3723 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 29, 2024 |
| 18373920 | PIPE REPAIR STENT WITH FRICTION ELEMENTS | LU, HAOTIAN | 3753 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 27, 2023 |
| 18226650 | RETRACTABLE DRILL BIT | GAY, JENNIFER HAWKINS | 3619 | §102 | Non-Final OA | 28d | Pending | Jul 26, 2023 |
| 18094214 | INTEGRAL FLEXURE TAPPING SLEEVE | LINFORD, JAMES ALBERT | 3679 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 06, 2023 |
| 17236365 | WIDE RANGE PIPE FITTING | RUFRANO, ALEXANDER TYLER | 3679 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 21, 2021 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialMueller International LLC has 12 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 6 art units and 10 examiners.
David R Deal has the most, with 3 of Mueller International LLC's pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
