Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
5 pending office actions • 3 art units • 5 examiners • 0 of 5 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 1 patents granted in the last 365 days
Novanta Medical GmbH has 5 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed across distinct examiners and 3 distinct art units. WITTLIFF, KATERINA ANNA is the busiest examiner for the company, holding 1 pending office action.
The presence of several examiners for the 5 pending office actions indicates that no individual is handling more than 1 case. However, the concentration into 3 distinct art units suggests some overlap in the technical groups reviewing the applications. This structure requires the company to manage the individual examiner relationships while operating within the units. Managing the portfolio across these units allows for some potential consistency in examination trends, even as the examiners apply their individual interpretations to the claims. This balance between examiner variety and unit concentration defines the current prosecution state for the company as it navigates the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 1 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
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 + other | 1 (20%) |
| §103 only | 1 (20%) |
| §102 only | 1 (20%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (40%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WITTLIFF, KATERINA ANNA | 1 | 35.0% | +18.8% |
| CARPENTER, WILLIAM R | 1 | 54.4% | +52.6% |
| DITMER, KATHRYN ELIZABETH | 1 | 57.6% | +49.6% |
| FREHE, WILLIAM R | 1 | 59.9% | +42.5% |
| COBANOGLU, DILEK B | 1 | 33.3% | +27.0% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16632904 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR LINKING AND EVALUATING INFORMATION IN CLINICAL DATA IN A MEDICAL DEVICE | FREHE, WILLIAM R | 29d |
| 18558109 | Insufflation Tube for Laparoscopy Comprising Heating Element, Humidifying Material and Device for Determining the Moisture Content | CARPENTER, WILLIAM R | — |
| 16632906 | MEDICAL ENGINEERING APPARATUS FOR STORING AND EVALUATING CLINICAL DATA | COBANOGLU, DILEK B | — |
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 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16632904 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR LINKING AND EVALUATING INFORMATION IN CLINICAL DATA IN A MEDICAL DEVICE | FREHE, WILLIAM R | 29d |
| 18290565 | COUPLING DEVICE FOR A MEDICAL PUMP | WITTLIFF, KATERINA ANNA | — |
| 18558109 | Insufflation Tube for Laparoscopy Comprising Heating Element, Humidifying Material and Device for Determining the Moisture Content | CARPENTER, WILLIAM R | — |
| 17284547 | WATER RESERVOIR FOR A DEVICE FOR GAS HUMIDIFICATION IN LAPAROSCOPY | DITMER, KATHRYN ELIZABETH | — |
| 16632906 | MEDICAL ENGINEERING APPARATUS FOR STORING AND EVALUATING CLINICAL DATA | COBANOGLU, DILEK B | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3783 | 2 |
| 3785 | 1 |
| 3687 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18290565 | COUPLING DEVICE FOR A MEDICAL PUMP | WITTLIFF, KATERINA ANNA | — | §102Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 17, 2024 |
| 18558109 | Insufflation Tube for Laparoscopy Comprising Heating Element, Humidifying Material and Device for Determining the Moisture Content | CARPENTER, WILLIAM R | 3783 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 30, 2023 |
| 17284547 | WATER RESERVOIR FOR A DEVICE FOR GAS HUMIDIFICATION IN LAPAROSCOPY | DITMER, KATHRYN ELIZABETH | 3785 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Apr 12, 2021 |
| 16632904 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR LINKING AND EVALUATING INFORMATION IN CLINICAL DATA IN A MEDICAL DEVICE | FREHE, WILLIAM R | 3783 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 29d | Pending | Jan 22, 2020 |
| 16632906 | MEDICAL ENGINEERING APPARATUS FOR STORING AND EVALUATING CLINICAL DATA | COBANOGLU, DILEK B | 3687 | §101§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 22, 2020 |
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