Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
4 pending office actions • 3 art units • 4 examiners • 0 of 4 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 1 patents granted in the last 365 days
Schweitzer-Mauduit International Inc. is managing 4 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These 4 actions are assigned to 4 distinct examiners, meaning no two active matters are currently being reviewed by the same person. The prosecution is taking place within 3 distinct art units. WORRELL, KEVIN is identified as the busiest examiner, holding 1 busiest examiner pending action.
With 4 pending office actions and 4 distinct examiners, the company must navigate 4 different prosecution styles simultaneously. Even though WORRELL, KEVIN is the busiest examiner, his 1 busiest examiner pending action is equal in volume to the other examiners' workloads. The use of 3 distinct art units for 4 actions suggests that some examiners are working within the same technical classification. For a practitioner, this distribution requires a highly individualized approach to each of the 4 pending office actions. The lack of examiner concentration means there is no single point of contact to influence the majority of the Chemistry & Materials portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 3 (75%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (25%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WORRELL, KEVIN | 1 | 12.5% | -3.1% |
| PHAM, VU PHI | 1 | 48.1% | +14.5% |
| HOBSON, STEPHEN | 1 | 65.0% | +20.1% |
| BELYAEV, YANA | 1 | 58.3% | +31.5% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17791273 | Flexible Soft Wipe Comprising Individualized Bast Fibers | WORRELL, KEVIN | 70d |
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 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17741987 | Vaping Article Comprising a Functionalized Cooling Zone | PHAM, VU PHI | 96d overdue |
| 17299902 | Paper Sheet and Method of Making It | HOBSON, STEPHEN | — |
| 16753278 | Reconstituted Plant Sheet For Devices That Heat Tobacco Without Burning It | BELYAEV, YANA | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1755 | 2 |
| 1789 | 1 |
| 1776 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17791273 | Flexible Soft Wipe Comprising Individualized Bast Fibers | WORRELL, KEVIN | 1789 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 70d | Pending | Jul 07, 2022 |
| 17741987 | Vaping Article Comprising a Functionalized Cooling Zone | PHAM, VU PHI | 1755 | §103 | Final Rejection | 96d overdue | Pending | May 11, 2022 |
| 17299902 | Paper Sheet and Method of Making It | HOBSON, STEPHEN | 1776 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 04, 2021 |
| 16753278 | Reconstituted Plant Sheet For Devices That Heat Tobacco Without Burning It | BELYAEV, YANA | 1755 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 02, 2020 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialSchweitzer-Mauduit International Inc. has 4 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 3 art units and 4 examiners.
Kevin Worrell has the most, with 1 of Schweitzer-Mauduit International Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Chemistry & Materials (USPTO Tech Center 1700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
