Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
11 pending office actions • 9 art units • 11 examiners • 0 of 11 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 9 patents granted in the last 365 days
Sonoco Development Inc. manages 11 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. Each of these 11 actions is assigned to a different individual, as there are 11 distinct examiners involved. This one to one ratio between pending actions and examiners suggests a complete lack of examiner concentration in the current portfolio. The matters are spread across 9 distinct art units, indicating a broad technical footprint within the medical devices and mechanical engineering sector.
HODGE, LINDA J is listed as the busiest examiner with 1 pending office action, which is consistent with the overall distribution where each of the 11 examiners holds exactly 1 pending action. This decentralized structure means that practitioners must manage 11 different examiner relationships and navigate the specific requirements of 9 distinct art units. The high number of art units relative to the 11 pending actions suggests that the company's filings cover a wide variety of technical applications. Without any concentration of matters under a single examiner, the prosecution team cannot rely on a single point of contact to influence the broader portfolio, requiring a highly individualized approach for each of the 11 pending office actions.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 7 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. 7 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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 3 (27%) |
| §112 only | 1 (9%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 7 (64%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| HODGE, LINDA J | 1 | 87.5% | +27.3% |
| IMAM, TANZIM | 1 | 71.2% | +27.2% |
| PARKER, LAURA EBERT | 1 | 58.1% | +24.7% |
| BURRELL, KATELYNNE RUTH | 1 | 56.5% | -0.4% |
| CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J | 1 | 65.1% | +35.7% |
| DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | 1 | 68.9% | +14.1% |
| SANGHERA, SYMREN K | 1 | 51.5% | +12.1% |
| STEVENS, ALLAN D | 1 | 41.5% | +50.3% |
| DILLON, DANIEL P | 1 | 26.2% | +29.9% |
| GOFF II, JOHN L | 1 | 59.5% | +31.3% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18674152 | FOLDABLE CONTAINER | CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J | 6d |
| 18967991 | RIBBED POLYMERIC CONTAINER | PARKER, LAURA EBERT | 20d |
| 17669098 | Embossment Protective Feature for Core Tubes | DILLON, DANIEL P | 27d |
| 18481579 | STACKING FEATURE FOR CONTAINERS | SANGHERA, SYMREN K | 54d |
| 18805739 | YARN CARRIER TUBES | BURRELL, KATELYNNE RUTH | 72d |
| 19308659 | OVERCAP WITH METHOD FOR MAKING THE SAME | HODGE, LINDA J | — |
| 18102266 | MULTIPURPOSE MEMBRANE FOR CONTAINERS | STEVENS, ALLAN D | — |
| 17408017 | LIDDING FILM FOR ASEPTIC PACKAGING | GOFF II, JOHN L | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18421617 | CONTAINER AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME | DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | 4d overdue |
| 18674152 | FOLDABLE CONTAINER | CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J | 6d |
| 18967991 | RIBBED POLYMERIC CONTAINER | PARKER, LAURA EBERT | 20d |
| 17669098 | Embossment Protective Feature for Core Tubes | DILLON, DANIEL P | 27d |
| 18481579 | STACKING FEATURE FOR CONTAINERS | SANGHERA, SYMREN K | 54d |
| 19308659 | OVERCAP WITH METHOD FOR MAKING THE SAME | HODGE, LINDA J | — |
| 19296413 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR THE HIGH-SPEED APPLICATION OF PAPER-BASED END CLOSURES ON COMPOSITE CONTAINERS | IMAM, TANZIM | — |
| 18102266 | MULTIPURPOSE MEMBRANE FOR CONTAINERS | STEVENS, ALLAN D | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3731 | 2 |
| 3733 | 2 |
| 3654 | 1 |
| 3734 | 1 |
| 3735 | 1 |
| 3736 | 1 |
| 1783 | 1 |
| 1746 | 1 |
| 1748 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19308659 | OVERCAP WITH METHOD FOR MAKING THE SAME | HODGE, LINDA J | 3731 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 25, 2025 |
| 19296413 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR THE HIGH-SPEED APPLICATION OF PAPER-BASED END CLOSURES ON COMPOSITE CONTAINERS | IMAM, TANZIM | 3731 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 11, 2025 |
| 18967991 | RIBBED POLYMERIC CONTAINER | PARKER, LAURA EBERT | 3733 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 20d | Pending | Dec 04, 2024 |
| 18805739 | YARN CARRIER TUBES | BURRELL, KATELYNNE RUTH | 3654 | §103§112Other | Non-Final OA | 72d | Pending | Aug 15, 2024 |
| 18674152 | FOLDABLE CONTAINER | CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J | 3733 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | 6d | Pending | May 24, 2024 |
| 18421617 | CONTAINER AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME | DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | 3734 | §103 | Final Rejection | 4d overdue | Pending | Jan 24, 2024 |
| 18481579 | STACKING FEATURE FOR CONTAINERS | SANGHERA, SYMREN K | 3735 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | 54d | Pending | Oct 05, 2023 |
| 18102266 | MULTIPURPOSE MEMBRANE FOR CONTAINERS | STEVENS, ALLAN D | 3736 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 27, 2023 |
| 17669098 | Embossment Protective Feature for Core Tubes | DILLON, DANIEL P | 1783 | §103 | Final Rejection | 27d | Pending | Feb 10, 2022 |
| 17408017 | LIDDING FILM FOR ASEPTIC PACKAGING | GOFF II, JOHN L | 1746 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 20, 2021 |
| 17014440 | CELLULOSE-BASED ACETATE FILM LINED MOLDED FIBER ARTICLES AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | RASHID, FAZLE A | 1748 | §103 | Final Rejection | 67d overdue | Pending | Sep 08, 2020 |
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