Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 04, 2026

Oerlikon Surface Solutions AG Pfäffikon

Technology area: Chemistry & Materials

8 pending office actions • 5 art units • 7 examiners • 0 of 8 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 14 patents granted in the last 365 days

Portfolio Summary

8
Total Pending OAs
6
Non-Final OAs
2
Final Rejections
0
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

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.

1
Overdue
0
Due this week
2
Due this month
0
Due in next 60 days
0
Due later

Deadline Fire Line

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.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (1)Due ≤ 30 days (2)

Case Difficulty Mix

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.

6
Hard (75%)
1
Medium (12%)
1
Easy (12%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§103 only1 (12%)
§112 only1 (12%)
Multi-statute (no §101)6 (75%)

Industry Mix

How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.

7
Life Sciences
88% of docket
0
Information Tech
0% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
0
Semiconductors
0% of docket
0
Mechanical / Eng
0% of docket
1
Business / Other
12% of docket

Time-on-OA Estimate

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.

80 h
Manual time on pending OAs
16 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
28 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
0.7 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
OTT, PATRICK S 2 67.9% +23.2%
KRUPICKA, ADAM C 1 62.1% +27.0%
FLORES JR, DONALD M 1 76.9% +27.3%
ZHANG, HAI Y 1 68.7% +42.6%
SCHWARTZ, PHILIP N 1 55.5% +17.0%
YANG, ZHEREN J 1 57.4% +52.4%
BERMAN, JASON 1 63.8% +21.0%

Hard Cases (6)

Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 6 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
17433203 METHOD FOR PRODUCING TARGETS FOR PHYSICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (PVD) BERMAN, JASON 2d overdue
18858996 COATING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT COMPONENTS OTT, PATRICK S 12d
18881221 METAL FREE COATING COMPRISING TETRAHEDRAL HYDROGEN-FREE AMORPHOUS CARBON FLORES JR, DONALD M —
18874441 FORMING TOOLS COATED WITH KAPPA-ALUMINA ZHANG, HAI Y —
18703218 METHOD FOR FORMING HARD AND ULTRA-SMOOTH A-C BY SPUTTERING OTT, PATRICK S —
18552110 THREE DIMENSIONAL LITHIUM ANODE WITH A CAPPING LAYER SCHWARTZ, PHILIP N —

Interview Candidates (8)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
17433203 METHOD FOR PRODUCING TARGETS FOR PHYSICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (PVD) BERMAN, JASON 2d overdue
18858996 COATING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT COMPONENTS OTT, PATRICK S 12d
17761777 SUBSTRATE WITH A MOLYBDENUM NITRIDE LAYER SYSTEM, AND COATING METHOD FOR PRODUCING A LAYER SYSTEM YANG, ZHEREN J 22d
19215191 AL-RICH ALTIN COATING LAYERS BY PVD FROM METALLIC TARGETS AND METHOD THEREOF KRUPICKA, ADAM C —
18881221 METAL FREE COATING COMPRISING TETRAHEDRAL HYDROGEN-FREE AMORPHOUS CARBON FLORES JR, DONALD M —
18874441 FORMING TOOLS COATED WITH KAPPA-ALUMINA ZHANG, HAI Y —
18703218 METHOD FOR FORMING HARD AND ULTRA-SMOOTH A-C BY SPUTTERING OTT, PATRICK S —
18552110 THREE DIMENSIONAL LITHIUM ANODE WITH A CAPPING LAYER SCHWARTZ, PHILIP N —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
1794 3
1783 1
1717 1
1749 1
1781 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
19215191 AL-RICH ALTIN COATING LAYERS BY PVD FROM METALLIC TARGETS AND METHOD THEREOF KRUPICKA, ADAM C — §103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 21, 2025
18881221 METAL FREE COATING COMPRISING TETRAHEDRAL HYDROGEN-FREE AMORPHOUS CARBON FLORES JR, DONALD M 1783 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 03, 2025
18874441 FORMING TOOLS COATED WITH KAPPA-ALUMINA ZHANG, HAI Y 1717 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 12, 2024
18858996 COATING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT COMPONENTS OTT, PATRICK S 1794 §102§103§112 Final Rejection 12d Pending Oct 22, 2024
18703218 METHOD FOR FORMING HARD AND ULTRA-SMOOTH A-C BY SPUTTERING OTT, PATRICK S 1794 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 19, 2024
18552110 THREE DIMENSIONAL LITHIUM ANODE WITH A CAPPING LAYER SCHWARTZ, PHILIP N 1749 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 22, 2023
17761777 SUBSTRATE WITH A MOLYBDENUM NITRIDE LAYER SYSTEM, AND COATING METHOD FOR PRODUCING A LAYER SYSTEM YANG, ZHEREN J 1781 §112 Final Rejection 22d Pending Mar 18, 2022
17433203 METHOD FOR PRODUCING TARGETS FOR PHYSICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (PVD) BERMAN, JASON 1794 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA 2d overdue Pending Aug 23, 2021

Managing Oerlikon Surface Solutions AG Pfäffikon's Patent Portfolio?

IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.

Start Free Trial

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month