Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
2 pending office actions • 2 art units • 2 examiners • 0 of 2 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 1 patents granted in the last 365 days
St Jude Medical LLC is currently managing 2 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed across 2 distinct art units and are being reviewed by 2 distinct examiners. This distribution suggests that the company's medical device filings are covering different technical sub-specialties within the USPTO, requiring review from multiple specialized groups.
The busiest examiner, LOPEZ, LESLIE ANN, is handling 1 pending office action. With 2 distinct examiners and 2 distinct art units for only 2 pending office actions, the portfolio's prosecution is decentralized. This variety allows the company to receive feedback from different technical perspectives within the medical device and mechanical engineering fields. Practitioners should note that the 2 pending office actions are being evaluated independently, which may lead to different prosecution timelines. The use of 2 distinct art units indicates that the company's technology has applications across multiple mechanical classifications. Each of the 2 distinct examiners will provide a unique perspective on the patentability of the company's innovations in the medical device sector.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 1 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 | 1 (50%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (50%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOPEZ, LESLIE ANN | 1 | 65.5% | +34.3% |
| HALL, DEANNA K | 1 | 75.7% | +15.7% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18625505 | Prosthetic Aortic Heart Valves | LOPEZ, LESLIE ANN | — |
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 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17846519 | IRRIGATED ABLATION CATHETER WITH MULTIPLE SEGMENTED ABLATION ELECTRODES | HALL, DEANNA K | 11d overdue |
| 18625505 | Prosthetic Aortic Heart Valves | LOPEZ, LESLIE ANN | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3774 | 1 |
| 3783 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18625505 | Prosthetic Aortic Heart Valves | LOPEZ, LESLIE ANN | 3774 | §103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 03, 2024 |
| 17846519 | IRRIGATED ABLATION CATHETER WITH MULTIPLE SEGMENTED ABLATION ELECTRODES | HALL, DEANNA K | 3783 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 11d overdue | Pending | Jun 22, 2022 |
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