Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 26, 2026

Philip Morris International Inc.

Technology area: Chemistry & Materials

205 pending office actions • 33 art units • 75 examiners • 0 of 205 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 216 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Philip Morris International Inc. has 206 pending office actions in Chemistry & Materials. The portfolio spans 75 distinct examiners and 31 distinct art units, demonstrating a large prosecution workload distributed across many examination settings, with substantial reuse of both examiner and art-unit resources.

MARTIN, JOHN MITCHELL is the busiest examiner, with 13 pending matters. That assignment is materially more concentrated than the broader examiner distribution and warrants coordinated review of claim amendments, arguments, and response positions. The art-unit count is lower than the examiner count, so art-unit-level processes may provide an effective way to organize the portfolio.

Written from this page's own data; every figure is computed from USPTO records and verified before publication.

Portfolio Summary

205
Total Pending OAs
133
Non-Final OAs
60
Final Rejections
12
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 50 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

20
Overdue
1
Due this week
15
Due this month
11
Due in next 60 days
3
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. 50 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (20)Due ≤ 7 days (1)Due ≤ 30 days (15)Due ≤ 60 days (11)Due later (3)

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.

67
Hard (33%)
125
Medium (61%)
12
Easy (6%)
1
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 + other3 (1%)
§103 only113 (55%)
§102 only4 (2%)
§112 only11 (5%)
Double-patenting only1 (0%)
Double-patenting + other8 (4%)
Multi-statute (no §101)64 (31%)
No statute on record1 (0%)

Industry Mix

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

161
Life Sciences
79% of docket
4
Information Tech
2% of docket
1
Communications
0% of docket
6
Semiconductors
3% of docket
26
Mechanical / Eng
13% of docket
7
Business / Other
3% 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.

2,050 h
Manual time on pending OAs
410 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
718 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
17.9 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
MARTIN, JOHN MITCHELL 12 24.2% +8.6%
DEZENDORF, MORGAN FAITH 10 26.7% +50.0%
FELTON, MICHAEL J 10 59.6% +14.5%
CULBERT, COURTNEY GUENTHER 9 27.8% +4.3%
DAVISON, CHARLOTTE INKERI 8 46.8% +29.2%
NGUYEN, PHU HOANG 7 66.0% +19.6%
SPARKS, RUSSELL E 7 64.1% +14.0%
BELYAEV, YANA 6 58.3% +31.5%
BUCKMAN, JEFFREY ALAN 6 62.3% +40.5%
NGUYEN, SONNY V 6 36.7% +24.8%

Hard Cases (91)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18256164 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE COMPRISING DUAL AEROSOL GENERATING-SUBSTRATES VAKILI, DANIEL EDWARD 66d overdue
18010750 SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND METHODS FOR UNLOCKING AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICES NAJI, YOUNES 44d overdue
17615680 METHOD OF PRODUCING A BLENDED LIQUID TOBACCO EXTRACT FROM TWO OR MORE TOBACCOS MARTIN, JOHN MITCHELL 37d overdue
18245637 STACKED SUSCEPTOR STRUCTURE YAARY, ERIC 15d overdue
17639876 SHISHA DEVICE WITH DIELECTRIC HEATER MARTIN, JOHN MITCHELL 1d overdue
17635255 AN AEROSOL-GENERATING SYSTEM AND AN INTERFACE ELEMENT FOR AN AEROSOL-GENERATING SYSTEM MARTIN, JOHN MITCHELL 1d overdue
18919754 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE, DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR USE WITH A PLURALITY OF AEROSOL-FORMING SUBSTRATES MCKANE, ELIZABETH L 8d
18247512 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE WITH DOWNSTREAM SECTION HAVING LOW RTD JORDAN, RONNIE KIRBY 12d

Interview Candidates (60)

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
17672882 CIGARETTES AND CIGARETTE FILTERS INCLUDING ACTIVATED CARBON FOR REMOVING NITRIC OXIDE FELTON, MICHAEL J 162d overdue
18409059 SMOKING ARTICLE USING A CONTINUOUS STRUCTURE OF AN ENCAPSULATED MATERIAL NGUYEN, SONNY V 45d overdue
17622528 AN AEROSOL-GENERATING SYSTEM AND A CARTRIDGE FOR AN AEROSOL-GENERATING SYSTEM HAVING IMPROVED HEATING ASSEMBLY SPARKS, RUSSELL E 42d overdue
17904807 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE INCLUDING SUBSTRATE WITH GEL COMPOSITION NGUYEN, SONNY V 37d overdue
18547534 DIELECTRICALLY HEATED AEROSOL-GENERATING SYSTEM WITH SEGMENTED HEATER DAVISON, CHARLOTTE INKERI 17d overdue
18251109 AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE WITH FLEXIBLE MEMBRANE COMPRISING AN OPENING DAVISON, CHARLOTTE INKERI 16d overdue
17905792 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE HAVING A PLURALITY OF AIR INGRESS ZONES BUCKMAN, JEFFREY ALAN 6d
18558637 AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE WITH SPANNING STOPPER BUCKMAN, JEFFREY ALAN 26d

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
1755 71
1747 59
1745 9
1749 9
3761 6
3785 5
1700 5
3991 4
3619 4
3731 3

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
19270144 FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FORMING A CONTINUOUS TUBULAR ROD SHUTTY, DAVID G 3731 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jul 15, 2025
19129336 VIBRATING MESH MODULE WITH INTEGRATED FLOW CHAMBER DANDRIDGE, CHRISTOPHER R. 3752 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending May 13, 2025
19200604 VAPORIZERS WITH CARTRIDGES WITH OPEN SIDED CHAMBER MCKANE, ELIZABETH L 3991 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending May 06, 2025
19107998 SPLICING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR SPLICING SHEETS OF MATERIAL SMITH JR., JIMMY R 1745 §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Feb 28, 2025
18869033 METHOD OF MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLE FOR DRY POWDER INHALER WITH UPSTREAM RESILIENT ELEMENT BESLER, CHRISTOPHER JAMES 3726 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 25, 2024
18869028 ARTICLE FOR DRY POWDER INHALER WITH INDICIA ON UPSTREAM END HUSSAIN, MISHAL ZAHRA 3785 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 25, 2024
18861368 MODULAR AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE SHARMIN, ANZUMAN 2115 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 29, 2024
18861037 TOBACCO ALKALOID INSECT REPELLENT IN PLANTS SOROUSH, LAYLA 1625 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 28, 2024
18919754 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE, DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR USE WITH A PLURALITY OF AEROSOL-FORMING SUBSTRATES MCKANE, ELIZABETH L 3991 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA 8d Pending Oct 18, 2024
18855067 HINGE-LID PACK AND BLANK OF SHEET MATERIAL FOR FORMING A HINGLE-LID PACK SPICER, JENINE MARIE 3736 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 08, 2024
18853616 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE WITH LOW DENSITY SUBSTRATE AND RELATIVELY LONG DOWNSTREAM SECTION GHEBRESELASSIE, HELEN G 1755 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 02, 2024
18853210 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE AND AEROSOL-GENERATING SYSTEM COMPRISING AN INTERNAL HEATING ELEMENT SZUMIGALSKI, NICOLE ASHLEY 1755 §103 Non-Final OA 52d overdue Pending Oct 01, 2024
18852585 INTELLIGENT MACHINE AUTOMATED CONTROL FOR PRODUCTION LINES NORTON, JENNIFER L 2117 §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 30, 2024
18890483 AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE HAVING HOLDING MECHANISM PATEL, HARSHAD C 2831 §102§112Other Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 19, 2024
18838018 SPACING SUPPORT FOR PACKS FOR ROD-SHAPED ARTICLES, CONTAINER COMPRISING A SPACING SUPPORT AND METHOD FOR ASSEMBLING A SPACING SUPPORT COLLINS, RAVEN 3735 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 13, 2024
18835263 ORAL NICOTINE PRODUCT WITH CHEWABLE CARRIER ELEMENT WILL, KATHERINE A 1747 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 01, 2024
18832020 SMOKING DEVICE WITH CONSUMABLE TEMPERATURE SENSING MEANS MULLEN, MICHAEL PATRICK — §103Other Non-Final OA — Pending Jul 22, 2024
18727846 MEASUREMENT DEVICE AND PROCESS FOR AN AEROSOL GENERATING DEVICE LIFECYCLE TESTING ARRANGEMENT DIYAN, OLUWATOSIN OLUWATUMININ 1755 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jul 10, 2024
18759172 AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE HAVING IMPROVED POWER SUPPLY CONTROLLER CEFARATTI, JOSEPH ARTHUR — §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 28, 2024
18722473 INCREASING ANATABINE IN TOBACCO LEAF BY REGULATING METHYL PUTRESCINE OXIDASE SPEED, DEQUANTARIUS JAVON 1663 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 20, 2024
18742649 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE WITH HIGH AEROSOL FORMER CONTENT GHEBRESELASSIE, HELEN G 1755 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 13, 2024
18739615 FALL RESPONSE PROCEDURES FOR AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICES KESSIE, JENNIFER A 1747 §103Other Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 11, 2024
18717517 REPLACEABLE CARTRIDGE WITH CAPILLARY DYE, ROBERT C 3619 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 07, 2024
18715867 METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A VENTILATION ZONE IN AN AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE NGUYEN, PHU HOANG 1747 §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 03, 2024
18715334 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE HAVING AN AIR CHANNELLING ELEMENT WITH INNER AND OUTER AIR PASSAGEWAYS DYE, ROBERT C 3619 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending May 31, 2024
18713791 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE COMPRISING HOLLOW TUBULAR SUBSTRATE ELEMENT PAUDEL, PRADEEP 1749 §103Other Non-Final OA — Pending May 28, 2024
18713911 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE COMPRISING HOLLOW TUBULAR SUBSTRATE ELEMENT WITH SEALING ELEMENT BIEGER, VIRGINIA RUTH 1755 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 28, 2024
18671155 AN AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE COMPRISING A COVER ELEMENT KRATT, JUSTIN M 2831 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 22, 2024
18712344 CLEANING TOOL FOR AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE KARLS, SHAY LYNN 3723 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 22, 2024
18712066 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE HAVING A GROOVED AIR CHANNELLING ELEMENT NNABUGWU, HANNAH CHINWE 1747 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending May 21, 2024
18711712 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE HAVING WRAPPER COMPRISING AN ADHESIVE GRAY, LINDA LAMEY 1745 §102§103§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending May 20, 2024
18710223 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE COMPRISING WRAPPING PAPER WITH SECTIONS PROTRUDING IN UPSTREAM DIRECTION CEFARATTI, JOSEPH ARTHUR 1749 §102§103§112Other Non-Final OA — Pending May 15, 2024
18709092 MEASUREMENT OF TEMPERATURE OF A HEATER ELEMENT FOR AN AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE LIN, ERICA S Y 2853 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 10, 2024
18707315 APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING INTUBATED NON-HUMAN ANIMAL TO GAS DELIVERY SYSTEM ZIEGLER, MATTHEW D 3785 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 03, 2024
18706418 GAS DELIVERY SYSTEM AND ASSOCIATED METHOD BALLER, KELSEY E 3785 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending May 01, 2024
18706123 TESTING ARTICLE FOR USE IN AN AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE MERCADO, ALEXANDER A 2855 §102§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 30, 2024
18705149 AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE WITH AMBIENT AIR ADAPTION NGUYEN, PHU HOANG 1747 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 26, 2024
18704154 AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE WITH A BUTTON ARRANGEMENT SAEED, AHMED M 2831 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 24, 2024
18640896 ELECTRICALLY OPERATED SMOKING DEVICE INCLUDING A SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING SMOKING ARTICLES IN THE DEVICE WILL, KATHERINE A 1747 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 19, 2024
18702535 CARTRIDGE FOR INDUCTIVELY HEATED AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE DEZENDORF, MORGAN FAITH 1755 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 18, 2024
18702513 METHOD OF OPERATING AN AEROSOL-GENERATING SYSTEM CULBERT, COURTNEY GUENTHER 1747 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 18, 2024
18701950 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE WITH PHOTOLUMINESCENT TAGGANT BIEGER, VIRGINIA RUTH 1755 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 17, 2024
18702016 HEATING ASSEMBLY FOR AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE NGUYEN, PHU HOANG 1747 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 17, 2024
18701634 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE WITH TAGGANT DYE, ROBERT C 3619 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 16, 2024
18701271 AEROSOL GENERATING ARTICLE COMPRISING A HEAT-INSULATING SLEEVE NGUYEN, PHU HOANG 1747 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 15, 2024
18701266 METHOD OF TESTING AIR LEAKAGE MERCADO, ALEXANDER A 2855 §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 15, 2024
18700830 AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE FOR INDUCTIVELY HEATED DEVICE GRAY, LINDA LAMEY 1745 §102§103 Final Rejection — Pending Apr 12, 2024
18700968 CLEANING TOOL FOR AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE GRAY, LINDA LAMEY 1745 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 12, 2024
18700958 AEROSOL GENERATING DEVICE WITH SEALED INTERNAL AIRFLOW CHANNEL WEILER, NICHOLAS JOSEPH — §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 12, 2024
18700389 CARTRIDGE FOR AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE WITH AXIAL AND ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT DAVISON, CHARLOTTE INKERI 1755 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 11, 2024

View all 205 →

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many pending USPTO office actions does Philip Morris International Inc. have?

Philip Morris International Inc. has 205 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 33 art units and 75 examiners.

Which USPTO examiner handles the most Philip Morris International Inc. applications?

John Mitchell Martin has the most, with 12 of Philip Morris International Inc.'s pending office actions.

What technology area are Philip Morris International Inc.'s patent applications in?

Mostly Chemistry & Materials (USPTO Tech Center 1700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.

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