Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
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 • 37 patents granted in the last 365 days
Mueller International LLC has 12 pending office actions in the technology area of Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems. These 12 actions are assigned to 10 distinct examiners across 6 distinct art units. This indicates a level of concentration, as some examiners are handling multiple cases for the company.
MURPHY, KEVIN F is the busiest examiner for the company, currently managing 2 pending office actions. With 12 total pending office actions and 10 distinct examiners, the majority of cases are handled by different individuals. The 6 distinct art units involved suggest that the company's innovations in this technology area are being evaluated across 6 different specialized classifications. Practitioners must coordinate 12 pending actions across these 10 examiners to ensure a unified strategy across the 6 art units.
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 (25%) |
| §102 only | 2 (17%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 7 (58%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MURPHY, KEVIN F | 2 | 67.8% | +27.7% |
| RUFRANO, ALEXANDER TYLER | 2 | 54.5% | +27.8% |
| GATES, ERIC ANDREW | 1 | 78.8% | +14.5% |
| HEWITT, JAMES M | 1 | 69.6% | +45.3% |
| HA, STEVEN S | 1 | 70.2% | +30.0% |
| DEAL, DAVID R | 1 | 83.5% | +12.1% |
| MARINI, MATTHEW G | 1 | 60.5% | +21.9% |
| LU, HAOTIAN | 1 | 60.6% | +37.3% |
| GAY, JENNIFER HAWKINS | 1 | 85.1% | +8.6% |
| LINFORD, JAMES ALBERT | 1 | 64.1% | +33.8% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18226650 | RETRACTABLE DRILL BIT | GAY, JENNIFER HAWKINS | 28d |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 7 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19213213 | HYDRANT NOZZLE CAP SPACER | MURPHY, KEVIN F | — |
| 18922536 | WIDE RANGE GLAND FOR MECHANICAL JOINT | RUFRANO, ALEXANDER TYLER | — |
| 18828824 | VARIABLE LENGTH TOOL HOLDER | GATES, ERIC ANDREW | — |
| 18639605 | PRESSURIZING GASKET | DEAL, DAVID R | — |
| 18584524 | MATERIAL PROPERTIES DETERMINATION IN SERVICE PIPE USING ACOUSTICAL WAVE PROPAGATION | MARINI, MATTHEW G | — |
| 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 | — |
| 18922536 | WIDE RANGE GLAND FOR MECHANICAL JOINT | RUFRANO, ALEXANDER TYLER | — |
| 18828824 | VARIABLE LENGTH TOOL HOLDER | GATES, ERIC ANDREW | — |
| 18812068 | BREAK CHECK VALVE | MURPHY, KEVIN F | — |
| 18639605 | PRESSURIZING GASKET | DEAL, DAVID R | — |
| 18584524 | MATERIAL PROPERTIES DETERMINATION IN SERVICE PIPE USING ACOUSTICAL WAVE PROPAGATION | MARINI, MATTHEW G | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3679 | 4 |
| 3753 | 3 |
| 3722 | 1 |
| 1735 | 1 |
| 2853 | 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 |
| 18922536 | WIDE RANGE GLAND FOR MECHANICAL JOINT | RUFRANO, ALEXANDER TYLER | 3679 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 22, 2024 |
| 18828824 | VARIABLE LENGTH TOOL HOLDER | GATES, ERIC ANDREW | 3722 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 09, 2024 |
| 18812068 | BREAK CHECK VALVE | MURPHY, KEVIN F | 3753 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 22, 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 | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 18, 2024 |
| 18584524 | MATERIAL PROPERTIES DETERMINATION IN SERVICE PIPE USING ACOUSTICAL WAVE PROPAGATION | MARINI, MATTHEW G | 2853 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 22, 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 |
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