Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026

Sumitomo Seika Chemicals Co., Ltd.

Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering

15 pending office actions • 9 art units • 14 examiners • 0 of 15 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 14 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Sumitomo Seika Chemicals Co., Ltd. maintains a portfolio with 15 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These matters are distributed among 14 distinct examiners and 10 distinct art units. This wide distribution across 10 distinct art units indicates that the company's chemical research spans a broad range of specialized materials and processes, requiring interaction with many different technical divisions at the patent office.

ALEXANDRE F FERRE is the busiest examiner for the company, currently handling 2 pending office actions. This examiner holds more pending matters than any other individual examiner in the current portfolio. The presence of 15 pending office actions suggests an active and ongoing commitment to securing intellectual property in the chemistry sector. Practitioners must navigate the varied requirements of these different examiners to successfully advance this diverse portfolio.

Written from this page's own data; every figure is computed from USPTO records and verified before publication.

Portfolio Summary

15
Total Pending OAs
10
Non-Final OAs
5
Final Rejections
0
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

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.

1
Overdue
0
Due this week
3
Due this month
0
Due in next 60 days
0
Due later

Deadline Fire Line

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.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (1)Due ≤ 30 days (3)

Case Difficulty Mix

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.

4
Hard (27%)
11
Medium (73%)
0
Easy (0%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§103 only8 (53%)
§102 only2 (13%)
Double-patenting + other1 (7%)
Multi-statute (no §101)4 (27%)

Industry Mix

How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.

7
Life Sciences
47% of docket
0
Information Tech
0% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
0
Semiconductors
0% of docket
5
Mechanical / Eng
33% of docket
3
Business / Other
20% of docket

Time-on-OA Estimate

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.

150 h
Manual time on pending OAs
30 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
52 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
1.3 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
FERRE, ALEXANDRE F 2 59.0% +20.1%
GEHMAN, BRYON P 1 73.8% +30.6%
BALLMAN, CHRISTOPHER D 1 77.0% +20.7%
PROSSER, ALISSA J 1 15.7% +11.2%
TRAN, NHU 1 68.4% +17.5%
BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN 1 81.5% +14.9%
STEPHENS, JACQUELINE F 1 75.6% +14.8%
ANBACHT, BRIT ELIZA 1 73.6% +20.7%
MOORE, MARGARET G 1 68.0% +15.2%
SU, SUSAN SHAN 1 71.7% +23.9%

Quick Wins (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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18705222 WATER-ABSORBENT RESIN COMPOSITION, ABSORBENT MATERIAL AND ABSORBENT ARTICLE BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN —

Hard Cases (4)

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 #TitleExaminerDue 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 —

Interview Candidates (11)

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 #TitleExaminerDue 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 —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
3781 3
1788 2
3736 1
3753 1
1619 1
1738 1
1742 1
1763 1
1726 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
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 — §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 — §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 — §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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