Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals • Chemistry & Materials
3 pending office actions • 2 art units • 3 examiners • 0 of 3 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 3 patents granted in the last 365 days
STEPAN Company has 3 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These 3 pending office actions represent the current focus of the company's patent prosecution efforts. The technology area of Chemistry & Materials suggests a range of chemical and material-based innovations. Practitioners should prepare for the specific examination standards of this technical field.
The 3 pending office actions are assigned to 3 distinct examiners across 2 distinct art units. Because there are 3 distinct examiners for 3 actions, each matter is being reviewed by a unique individual. The concentration within 2 distinct art units indicates that the company's technical filings are grouped into a few specialized areas at the USPTO. This structure requires the applicant to manage multiple examiner relationships while maintaining a consistent strategy within each art unit.
STEINKE, SEAN JAMES is the busiest examiner, responsible for 1 busiest examiner pending action. With 3 distinct examiners each handling 1 action, the workload is perfectly balanced across the portfolio. Practitioners must manage these 3 pending office actions by engaging with 3 distinct examiners across 2 distinct art units. This requires a coordinated strategy to ensure consistent results across the 3 pending office actions.
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 | 1 (33%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (33%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (33%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEINKE, SEAN JAMES | 1 | 12.5% | +42.9% |
| LI, AIQUN | 1 | 63.8% | +23.1% |
| DOLETSKI, BLAINE G | 1 | 75.0% | +9.1% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17437294 | REACTIVE SURFACTANTS | DOLETSKI, BLAINE G | 26d |
| 18798219 | SUSPENDING SYSTEMS CONSTRUCTED FROM HYDROTROPES | STEINKE, SEAN JAMES | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18233778 | COMPOSITIONS TO STABILIZE ASPHALTENES IN PETROLEUM FLUIDS | LI, AIQUN | 56d |
| 18798219 | SUSPENDING SYSTEMS CONSTRUCTED FROM HYDROTROPES | STEINKE, SEAN JAMES | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1766 | 1 |
| 1692 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18798219 | SUSPENDING SYSTEMS CONSTRUCTED FROM HYDROTROPES | STEINKE, SEAN JAMES | — | §103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 08, 2024 |
| 18233778 | COMPOSITIONS TO STABILIZE ASPHALTENES IN PETROLEUM FLUIDS | LI, AIQUN | 1766 | §103 | Final Rejection | 56d | Pending | Aug 14, 2023 |
| 17437294 | REACTIVE SURFACTANTS | DOLETSKI, BLAINE G | 1692 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 26d | Pending | Sep 08, 2021 |
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