Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
19 pending office actions • 13 art units • 18 examiners • 0 of 19 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 40 patents granted in the last 365 days
Shell USA Inc. has 22 pending office actions in Chemistry & Materials. Those matters are distributed across 21 distinct examiners and 14 distinct art units, indicating that prosecution activity reaches a broad set of examination assignments rather than remaining concentrated in one technical channel.
STEIN, MICHELLE is the busiest examiner, with 2 pending matters. That figure is small relative to the portfolio total, so the principal management issue is coordination across examiners and art units. Counsel may benefit from a centralized review of claim themes, cited references, and amendment positions to identify recurring prosecution issues before responses are prepared.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 5 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
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. 5 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.
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 (5%) |
| §103 only | 5 (26%) |
| §102 only | 1 (5%) |
| §112 only | 2 (11%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 10 (53%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEIN, MICHELLE | 2 | 45.3% | +35.5% |
| CAMPANELL, FRANCIS C | 1 | 73.0% | +9.5% |
| PO, MING CHEUNG | 1 | 37.7% | +13.8% |
| PAPE, ZACHARY | 1 | 72.5% | +19.5% |
| BOSTWICK, SIDNEY VINCENT | 1 | 51.6% | +37.3% |
| NOAKES, SUZANNE MARIE | 1 | 73.4% | +18.3% |
| CALDERON, DAVID ANDREW | 1 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| RIOJA, MELISSA A | 1 | 49.3% | +54.1% |
| MCKENZIE, THOMAS B | 1 | 57.5% | +22.7% |
| AMATO, ELIZABETH KATHRYN | 1 | 78.7% | +15.9% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18835647 | CATALYST COMPOSITION | CALDERON, DAVID ANDREW | — |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18568305 | OLEFINS PRODUCTION PROCESS | ROBINSON, RENEE E | 46d overdue |
| 19179342 | BIOFUEL BLENDS | CAMPANELL, FRANCIS C | — |
| 18857287 | THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM | PAPE, ZACHARY | — |
| 18837995 | METHOD FOR CAPTURING LONG-RANGE DEPENDENCIES IN GEOPHYSICAL DATA SETS | BOSTWICK, SIDNEY VINCENT | — |
| 18766986 | PROCESS FOR PREPARING A POLYETHER POLYOL WITH A HIGH ETHYLENE OXIDE CONTENT | RIOJA, MELISSA A | — |
| 18697833 | SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES FOR MAINTAINING CONTINUOUS CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE | MCKENZIE, THOMAS B | — |
| 18686646 | METHOD FOR GENERATING A HYDROGEL FROM A CO2 GAS STREAM | AMATO, ELIZABETH KATHRYN | — |
| 18393770 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HYDROPROCESSING HIGH CHLORIDE FEEDSTOCKS | VALENCIA, JUAN C | — |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18686426 | PROCESS FOR PRODUCING KEROSENE AND DIESEL FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES | STEIN, MICHELLE | 51d overdue |
| 18247106 | RECOVERY OF ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS | STEIN, MICHELLE | 14d |
| 18878711 | FUEL COMPOSITIONS | PO, MING CHEUNG | — |
| 18857287 | THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM | PAPE, ZACHARY | — |
| 18837995 | METHOD FOR CAPTURING LONG-RANGE DEPENDENCIES IN GEOPHYSICAL DATA SETS | BOSTWICK, SIDNEY VINCENT | — |
| 18838044 | PROCESS FOR WHOLE-CELL BIOSYNTHESIS OF STYRENE | NOAKES, SUZANNE MARIE | — |
| 18766986 | PROCESS FOR PREPARING A POLYETHER POLYOL WITH A HIGH ETHYLENE OXIDE CONTENT | RIOJA, MELISSA A | — |
| 18697833 | SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES FOR MAINTAINING CONTINUOUS CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE | MCKENZIE, THOMAS B | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1771 | 7 |
| 2841 | 1 |
| 2124 | 1 |
| 1656 | 1 |
| 1742 | 1 |
| 1764 | 1 |
| 1776 | 1 |
| 1762 | 1 |
| 1744 | 1 |
| 1772 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19179342 | BIOFUEL BLENDS | CAMPANELL, FRANCIS C | 1771 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 15, 2025 |
| 18878711 | FUEL COMPOSITIONS | PO, MING CHEUNG | 1771 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 24, 2024 |
| 18857287 | THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM | PAPE, ZACHARY | 2841 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 16, 2024 |
| 18837995 | METHOD FOR CAPTURING LONG-RANGE DEPENDENCIES IN GEOPHYSICAL DATA SETS | BOSTWICK, SIDNEY VINCENT | 2124 | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 13, 2024 |
| 18838044 | PROCESS FOR WHOLE-CELL BIOSYNTHESIS OF STYRENE | NOAKES, SUZANNE MARIE | 1656 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 13, 2024 |
| 18835647 | CATALYST COMPOSITION | CALDERON, DAVID ANDREW | 1742 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 02, 2024 |
| 18766986 | PROCESS FOR PREPARING A POLYETHER POLYOL WITH A HIGH ETHYLENE OXIDE CONTENT | RIOJA, MELISSA A | 1764 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 09, 2024 |
| 18697833 | SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES FOR MAINTAINING CONTINUOUS CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE | MCKENZIE, THOMAS B | 1776 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Apr 02, 2024 |
| 18686646 | METHOD FOR GENERATING A HYDROGEL FROM A CO2 GAS STREAM | AMATO, ELIZABETH KATHRYN | 1762 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 26, 2024 |
| 18686426 | PROCESS FOR PRODUCING KEROSENE AND DIESEL FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES | STEIN, MICHELLE | 1771 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | 51d overdue | Pending | Feb 25, 2024 |
| 18292018 | PROCESS FOR PREPARING A HIGH-RESILIENCE POLYURETHANE FOAM | KRASNOW, NICHOLAS R | 1744 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 25, 2024 |
| 18393770 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HYDROPROCESSING HIGH CHLORIDE FEEDSTOCKS | VALENCIA, JUAN C | 1771 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 22, 2023 |
| 18568305 | OLEFINS PRODUCTION PROCESS | ROBINSON, RENEE E | 1772 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 46d overdue | Pending | Dec 08, 2023 |
| 18340455 | METHOD FOR PREDICTING A CO2 STORAGE RISK ASSESSMENT | DANSEREAU, HAYDEN JAMES | 2189 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 23, 2023 |
| 18255891 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PRODUCTION OF FURFURAL | AGUIRRE, AMANDA L | 1626 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 05, 2023 |
| 18253809 | PROCESS FOR PRE-TREATING RENEWABLE FEEDSTOCKS | MENON, KRISHNAN S | 1777 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 54d | Pending | May 22, 2023 |
| 18247106 | RECOVERY OF ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS | STEIN, MICHELLE | 1771 | §103Other | Final Rejection | 14d | Pending | Mar 29, 2023 |
| 18005869 | PROCESS FOR HYDROTREATMENT OF MATERIALS FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES | NGUYEN, TAM M | 1771 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 42d | Pending | Jan 18, 2023 |
| 18261868 | GAS DISTRIBUTOR NOZZLE SYSTEM WITH SINTERED METAL FILTER MEDIA | BOYER, RANDY | 1771 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 18, 2023 |
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Start Free TrialShell USA Inc. has 19 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 13 art units and 18 examiners.
Michelle Stein has the most, with 2 of Shell USA Inc.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Chemistry & Materials (USPTO Tech Center 1700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
