Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
10 pending office actions • 7 art units • 10 examiners • 0 of 10 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 24 patents granted in the last 365 days
National Oilwell Varco L.P. has 10 pending office actions currently active in the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems technology area. These matters are spread across 7 distinct art units, indicating that the company's mechanical innovations are being reviewed by several different specialized groups. Each of the 10 pending office actions is assigned to a different individual, as there are 10 distinct examiners involved in the portfolio.
The busiest examiner, DAVIS, MARY ALICE, has only 1 pending office action, which is consistent with the total count of 10 examiners for 10 actions. This perfect one-to-one ratio between pending actions and examiners means that no single examiner has a dominant influence over the company's current prosecution pipeline. Practitioners must therefore address each case as a unique interaction without the benefit of consolidated examiner feedback.
The presence of 7 distinct art units for only 10 pending actions suggests a relatively high level of technical diversity for a portfolio of this size. Since DAVIS, MARY ALICE and all other examiners hold only 1 pending action, the company faces a completely decentralized prosecution environment. This structure requires a broad strategy to manage 10 separate examiner relationships across the Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems sector.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 6 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. 6 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 only | 1 (10%) |
| §101 + other | 1 (10%) |
| §103 only | 2 (20%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 6 (60%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAVIS, MARY ALICE | 1 | 77.4% | +31.8% |
| QUAIM, LAMIA | 1 | 74.0% | +17.8% |
| SNELTING, JONATHAN D | 1 | 68.6% | +31.8% |
| OMGBA, ESSAMA | 1 | 59.2% | +32.9% |
| BOCHNA, DAVID | 1 | 79.8% | +13.6% |
| RO, YONG-SUK | 1 | 85.5% | +7.7% |
| SORKIN, DAVID L | 1 | 67.4% | +12.8% |
| PLAKKOOTTAM, DOMINICK L | 1 | 74.4% | +14.9% |
| MOLL, NITHYA JANAKIRAMAN | 1 | 67.3% | +13.4% |
| BEMKO, TARAS P | 1 | 84.4% | +19.3% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18569139 | ALONG STRING MEASUREMENT TOOL WITH PRESSURE SENSOR ARRAY | RO, YONG-SUK | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18669291 | THREADED TUBULAR MEMBERS EMPLOYING METAL-TO-METAL SEALS | BOCHNA, DAVID | 138d overdue |
| 17432893 | WEAR RESISTANT DRILL PIPE | BEMKO, TARAS P | 72d overdue |
| 17440289 | THERMAL ANALYSIS OF DRILL BITS | MOLL, NITHYA JANAKIRAMAN | 10d overdue |
| 18822126 | Downhole Event Detection | QUAIM, LAMIA | 8d |
| 18569137 | DIRECT FEED PROPPANT SYSTEM | SORKIN, DAVID L | 14d |
| 19222701 | PROGRESSING CAVITY DEVICES AND ASSEMBLIES FOR COUPLING MULTIPLE STAGES OF PROGRESSING CAVITY DEVICES | DAVIS, MARY ALICE | — |
| 18774489 | PROPPANT SUPPLY SYSTEM | SNELTING, JONATHAN D | — |
| 18680394 | PROGRESSIVE CAVITY PUMP ROTOR | OMGBA, ESSAMA | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18669291 | THREADED TUBULAR MEMBERS EMPLOYING METAL-TO-METAL SEALS | BOCHNA, DAVID | 138d overdue |
| 17432893 | WEAR RESISTANT DRILL PIPE | BEMKO, TARAS P | 72d overdue |
| 17440289 | THERMAL ANALYSIS OF DRILL BITS | MOLL, NITHYA JANAKIRAMAN | 10d overdue |
| 18563296 | WEAR RESISTANT TUBULAR MEMBERS AND METHODS AND DEVICES FOR PRODUCING THE SAME | PLAKKOOTTAM, DOMINICK L | 1d overdue |
| 18822126 | Downhole Event Detection | QUAIM, LAMIA | 8d |
| 18569137 | DIRECT FEED PROPPANT SYSTEM | SORKIN, DAVID L | 14d |
| 19222701 | PROGRESSING CAVITY DEVICES AND ASSEMBLIES FOR COUPLING MULTIPLE STAGES OF PROGRESSING CAVITY DEVICES | DAVIS, MARY ALICE | — |
| 18774489 | PROPPANT SUPPLY SYSTEM | SNELTING, JONATHAN D | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3746 | 3 |
| 3676 | 2 |
| 3652 | 1 |
| 3679 | 1 |
| 1774 | 1 |
| 2189 | 1 |
| 3672 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19222701 | PROGRESSING CAVITY DEVICES AND ASSEMBLIES FOR COUPLING MULTIPLE STAGES OF PROGRESSING CAVITY DEVICES | DAVIS, MARY ALICE | 3746 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 29, 2025 |
| 18822126 | Downhole Event Detection | QUAIM, LAMIA | 3676 | §101§102§103 | Final Rejection | 8d | Pending | Aug 31, 2024 |
| 18774489 | PROPPANT SUPPLY SYSTEM | SNELTING, JONATHAN D | 3652 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 16, 2024 |
| 18680394 | PROGRESSIVE CAVITY PUMP ROTOR | OMGBA, ESSAMA | 3746 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 31, 2024 |
| 18669291 | THREADED TUBULAR MEMBERS EMPLOYING METAL-TO-METAL SEALS | BOCHNA, DAVID | 3679 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 138d overdue | Pending | May 20, 2024 |
| 18569139 | ALONG STRING MEASUREMENT TOOL WITH PRESSURE SENSOR ARRAY | RO, YONG-SUK | 3676 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 11, 2023 |
| 18569137 | DIRECT FEED PROPPANT SYSTEM | SORKIN, DAVID L | 1774 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | 14d | Pending | Dec 11, 2023 |
| 18563296 | WEAR RESISTANT TUBULAR MEMBERS AND METHODS AND DEVICES FOR PRODUCING THE SAME | PLAKKOOTTAM, DOMINICK L | 3746 | §103 | Final Rejection | 1d overdue | Pending | Nov 21, 2023 |
| 17440289 | THERMAL ANALYSIS OF DRILL BITS | MOLL, NITHYA JANAKIRAMAN | 2189 | §101Other | Final Rejection | 10d overdue | Pending | Sep 17, 2021 |
| 17432893 | WEAR RESISTANT DRILL PIPE | BEMKO, TARAS P | 3672 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 72d overdue | Pending | Aug 20, 2021 |
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