Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
9 pending office actions • 6 art units • 9 examiners • 0 of 9 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 30 patents granted in the last 365 days
SUMCO Corporation has 10 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These actions are spread across 10 distinct examiners and 6 distinct art units. KASENGE, CHARLES R is the busiest examiner, with 1 pending action.
The 10 pending office actions are distributed among 6 distinct art units, showing a range of chemistry and materials classifications. Each of the 10 distinct examiners is responsible for exactly 1 action. KASENGE, CHARLES R, as the busiest examiner, handles 1 pending action, indicating that no single examiner is managing multiple pending matters for the company. This ratio of 10 pending office actions to 10 distinct examiners suggests a fragmented prosecution environment. Practitioners should be aware that the 6 distinct art units involved will likely apply different standards or timelines to the various matters within the Chemistry & Materials sector.
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 |
|---|---|
| §101 + other | 2 (22%) |
| §103 only | 3 (33%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 4 (44%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KASENGE, CHARLES R | 1 | 84.0% | +13.8% |
| KENIRY, HEATHER J | 1 | 81.0% | +19.5% |
| KOETH, MICHELLE M | 1 | 76.7% | +16.5% |
| HENRY, CALEB E | 1 | 86.8% | +6.0% |
| SHUM, KENT N | 1 | 37.7% | +50.3% |
| AYALEW, TINSAE B | 1 | 75.8% | +9.1% |
| CHEN, DAVID Z | 1 | 44.7% | +50.1% |
| CRAMER, HALEE PAIGE | 1 | 74.2% | +6.5% |
| QI, HUA | 1 | 56.6% | +23.1% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19008977 | SUBSTRATE TRANSPORT SYSTEM | KENIRY, HEATHER J | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 6 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17996737 | SINGLE CRYSTAL PRODUCTION APPARATUS AND SINGLE CRYSTAL PRODUCTION METHOD | QI, HUA | 18d overdue |
| 18992276 | MANAGEMENT DEVICE, MANAGEMENT METHOD, AND WAFER MANUFACTURING SYSTEM | KASENGE, CHARLES R | — |
| 18862214 | WAFER DETERMINATION METHOD, DETERMINATION PROGRAM, DETERMINATION APPARATUS, WAFER PRODUCTION METHOD, AND WAFER | KOETH, MICHELLE M | — |
| 18738678 | LOW RESISTIVITY WAFER | HENRY, CALEB E | — |
| 18568469 | DOUBLE-SIDE POLISHING METHOD FOR WORK AND DOUBLE-SIDE POLISHING APPARATUS FOR WORK | SHUM, KENT N | — |
| 18561531 | SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER CLEANING DEVICE, SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER CLEANING METHOD, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SILICON WAFER | AYALEW, TINSAE B | — |
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 6 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18314973 | SILICON WAFER AND EPITAXIAL SILICON WAFER | CHEN, DAVID Z | 23d overdue |
| 17996737 | SINGLE CRYSTAL PRODUCTION APPARATUS AND SINGLE CRYSTAL PRODUCTION METHOD | QI, HUA | 18d overdue |
| 18992276 | MANAGEMENT DEVICE, MANAGEMENT METHOD, AND WAFER MANUFACTURING SYSTEM | KASENGE, CHARLES R | — |
| 19008977 | SUBSTRATE TRANSPORT SYSTEM | KENIRY, HEATHER J | — |
| 18862214 | WAFER DETERMINATION METHOD, DETERMINATION PROGRAM, DETERMINATION APPARATUS, WAFER PRODUCTION METHOD, AND WAFER | KOETH, MICHELLE M | — |
| 18568469 | DOUBLE-SIDE POLISHING METHOD FOR WORK AND DOUBLE-SIDE POLISHING APPARATUS FOR WORK | SHUM, KENT N | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3657 | 1 |
| 3723 | 1 |
| 1711 | 1 |
| 2815 | 1 |
| 2891 | 1 |
| 1714 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18992276 | MANAGEMENT DEVICE, MANAGEMENT METHOD, AND WAFER MANUFACTURING SYSTEM | KASENGE, CHARLES R | — | §101§102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 08, 2025 |
| 19008977 | SUBSTRATE TRANSPORT SYSTEM | KENIRY, HEATHER J | 3657 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 03, 2025 |
| 18862214 | WAFER DETERMINATION METHOD, DETERMINATION PROGRAM, DETERMINATION APPARATUS, WAFER PRODUCTION METHOD, AND WAFER | KOETH, MICHELLE M | — | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 01, 2024 |
| 18738678 | LOW RESISTIVITY WAFER | HENRY, CALEB E | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 10, 2024 |
| 18568469 | DOUBLE-SIDE POLISHING METHOD FOR WORK AND DOUBLE-SIDE POLISHING APPARATUS FOR WORK | SHUM, KENT N | 3723 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 08, 2023 |
| 18561531 | SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER CLEANING DEVICE, SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER CLEANING METHOD, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SILICON WAFER | AYALEW, TINSAE B | 1711 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 16, 2023 |
| 18314973 | SILICON WAFER AND EPITAXIAL SILICON WAFER | CHEN, DAVID Z | 2815 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 23d overdue | Pending | May 10, 2023 |
| 17979879 | SILICON WAFER AND EPITAXIAL SILICON WAFER | CRAMER, HALEE PAIGE | 2891 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 03, 2022 |
| 17996737 | SINGLE CRYSTAL PRODUCTION APPARATUS AND SINGLE CRYSTAL PRODUCTION METHOD | QI, HUA | 1714 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 18d overdue | Pending | Oct 20, 2022 |
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