Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
15 pending office actions • 12 art units • 14 examiners • 0 of 15 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 15 patents granted in the last 365 days
Sumitomo Seika Chemicals Co., Ltd. holds 15 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. The portfolio is highly dispersed, involving 14 distinct examiners across 12 distinct art units. This broad distribution suggests that the company's chemical and material applications are being evaluated against a wide variety of technical standards and examiner preferences. Such a high level of dispersion requires a robust strategy to maintain consistency across many different filings.
FERRE, ALEXANDRE F is the busiest examiner for this company, though they are responsible for only 2 of the pending office actions. The fact that the distinct examiners are involved for the 15 pending office actions indicates that almost every pending matter is being handled by a different individual. Practitioners must coordinate across the 12 distinct art units to maintain consistency in the company's prosecution efforts and ensure that technical arguments are aligned across the entire Chemistry & Materials portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 4 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. 4 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 | 8 (53%) |
| §102 only | 2 (13%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (7%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 4 (27%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FERRE, ALEXANDRE F | 2 | 59.1% | +20.1% |
| GEHMAN, BRYON P | 1 | 73.7% | +30.6% |
| BALLMAN, CHRISTOPHER D | 1 | 77.0% | +20.7% |
| PROSSER, ALISSA J | 1 | 15.5% | +11.2% |
| TRAN, NHU | 1 | 68.7% | +17.2% |
| BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | 1 | 81.2% | +15.2% |
| STEPHENS, JACQUELINE F | 1 | 75.6% | +14.9% |
| ANBACHT, BRIT ELIZA | 1 | 73.6% | +20.7% |
| MOORE, MARGARET G | 1 | 68.1% | +15.6% |
| SU, SUSAN SHAN | 1 | 72.0% | +23.7% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18705222 | WATER-ABSORBENT RESIN COMPOSITION, ABSORBENT MATERIAL AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18868642 | MIXING APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING MIXED SOLUTION | BALLMAN, CHRISTOPHER D | 49d overdue |
| 18547586 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING WATER ABSORBENT RESIN PARTICLES | LEAVITT, MORDECAI MIZANI | 15d |
| 18730907 | POLYALKYLENE OXIDE PARTICLES FOR PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION, MEDICINAL COMPOSITION, COMPOSITION FOR PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION, AND PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION | PROSSER, ALISSA J | — |
| 18705017 | WATER-ABSORBING RESIN COMPOSITION, ABSORBENT, AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | STEPHENS, JACQUELINE F | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18868642 | MIXING APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING MIXED SOLUTION | BALLMAN, CHRISTOPHER D | 49d overdue |
| 18881588 | SULFUR DIOXIDE MIXTURE-FILLED CONTAINER AND SULFUR DIOXIDE COMPOSITION | GEHMAN, BRYON P | — |
| 18845982 | WATER ABSORBENT RESIN PARTICLES AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | FERRE, ALEXANDRE F | — |
| 18730907 | POLYALKYLENE OXIDE PARTICLES FOR PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION, MEDICINAL COMPOSITION, COMPOSITION FOR PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION, AND PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION | PROSSER, ALISSA J | — |
| 18714352 | ABSORBENT ARTICLE | TRAN, NHU | — |
| 18705222 | WATER-ABSORBENT RESIN COMPOSITION, ABSORBENT MATERIAL AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | — |
| 18705017 | WATER-ABSORBING RESIN COMPOSITION, ABSORBENT, AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | STEPHENS, JACQUELINE F | — |
| 18569121 | RECOVERY METHOD AND PRODUCTION METHOD FOR CYCLIC CARBONATE | ANBACHT, BRIT ELIZA | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3781 | 3 |
| 1788 | 2 |
| 3736 | 1 |
| 3753 | 1 |
| 1619 | 1 |
| 1736 | 1 |
| 1776 | 1 |
| 1765 | 1 |
| 1738 | 1 |
| 1742 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18881588 | SULFUR DIOXIDE MIXTURE-FILLED CONTAINER AND SULFUR DIOXIDE COMPOSITION | GEHMAN, BRYON P | 3736 | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 06, 2025 |
| 18868642 | MIXING APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING MIXED SOLUTION | BALLMAN, CHRISTOPHER D | 3753 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 49d overdue | Pending | Nov 22, 2024 |
| 18845982 | WATER ABSORBENT RESIN PARTICLES AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | FERRE, ALEXANDRE F | 1788 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 11, 2024 |
| 18730907 | POLYALKYLENE OXIDE PARTICLES FOR PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION, MEDICINAL COMPOSITION, COMPOSITION FOR PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION, AND PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION | PROSSER, ALISSA J | 1619 | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 22, 2024 |
| 18714352 | ABSORBENT ARTICLE | TRAN, NHU | 3781 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 29, 2024 |
| 18705222 | WATER-ABSORBENT RESIN COMPOSITION, ABSORBENT MATERIAL AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | 1736 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 26, 2024 |
| 18705017 | WATER-ABSORBING RESIN COMPOSITION, ABSORBENT, AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | STEPHENS, JACQUELINE F | 3781 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Apr 26, 2024 |
| 18569121 | RECOVERY METHOD AND PRODUCTION METHOD FOR CYCLIC CARBONATE | ANBACHT, BRIT ELIZA | 1776 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 11, 2023 |
| 18565356 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING WATER-ABSORBING RESIN, WATER-ABSORBING RESIN, ABSORBER, AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | MOORE, MARGARET G | 1765 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 29, 2023 |
| 18553433 | ABSORBENT, AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE | SU, SUSAN SHAN | 3781 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 29, 2023 |
| 18285110 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING WATER-ABSORBENT RESIN PARTICLES | YOON, TAE H | 1738 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 29, 2023 |
| 18547586 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING WATER ABSORBENT RESIN PARTICLES | LEAVITT, MORDECAI MIZANI | 1742 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 15d | Pending | Aug 23, 2023 |
| 18005489 | RESIN DISPERSION COMPOSITION | FERRE, ALEXANDRE F | 1788 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 13, 2023 |
| 17999761 | WATER-SOLUBLE POLYMER COMPOSITION | USELDING, JOHN E | 1763 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 14d | Pending | Nov 23, 2022 |
| 17904923 | BINDER FOR SECONDARY BATTERIES | ARMSTRONG, KAREN JOYCE | 1726 | §103 | Final Rejection | 15d | Pending | Aug 24, 2022 |
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Start Free TrialSumitomo Seika Chemicals Co., Ltd. has 15 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 12 art units and 14 examiners.
Alexandre F Ferre has the most, with 2 of Sumitomo Seika Chemicals Co., Ltd.'s pending office actions.
Mostly Chemistry & Materials (USPTO Tech Center 1700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
