Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
1 pending office actions • 1 art units • 1 examiners • 0 of 1 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 1 patents granted in the last 365 days
Passy-Muir Inc. has 1 pending office action within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. This single matter is assigned to 1 distinct examiner and 1 distinct art unit. The company's current prosecution effort is focused on a single mechanical innovation. This focused approach allows for a dedicated strategy tailored to the specific technical requirements of the 1 distinct art unit involved.
WOODWARD, VALERIE LYNN is the busiest examiner for the portfolio, handling 1 pending office action. This 1 examiner manages the entire pending workload for the company. The prosecution timeline and outcome are tied to the specific examination practices of this individual within the 1 distinct art unit. Practitioners should focus on the individual preferences of WOODWARD, VALERIE LYNN to advance the application toward allowance.
With only 1 pending office action, there is no need to coordinate between different examiners or art units. However, the lack of diversity in the portfolio means that any hurdles encountered with the 1 distinct examiner will affect the company's entire active patent presence. Practitioners should carefully analyze the standards of the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area to ensure the application meets all necessary criteria for a favorable review.
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 | 1 (100%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WOODWARD, VALERIE LYNN | 1 | 71.3% | +27.1% |
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 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18505788 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STIMULATING SWALLOWING | WOODWARD, VALERIE LYNN | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3785 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18505788 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STIMULATING SWALLOWING | WOODWARD, VALERIE LYNN | 3785 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 09, 2023 |
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Start Free TrialPassy-Muir Inc. has 1 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 1 art units and 1 examiners.
Valerie Lynn Woodward has the most, with 1 of Passy-Muir Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.