Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 26, 2026

Tamron Co., Ltd.

Technology areas: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering

6 pending office actions • 4 art units • 6 examiners • 0 of 6 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 10 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Tamron Co., Ltd. shows an active prosecution profile with 6 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are spread across 6 distinct examiners and 4 distinct art units, suggesting a wide-ranging set of patent applications. SIPES, JOHN CURTIS is the busiest examiner for the portfolio, managing 1 busiest examiner pending office action. The distribution of 6 pending office actions among 6 distinct examiners indicates that the company is engaging with a broad cross-section of the patent office's mechanical expertise.

With 4 distinct art units involved, the portfolio covers a variety of sub-technologies within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering field. SIPES, JOHN CURTIS holds a portion of the workload with 1 busiest examiner pending action, while the remaining actions are handled by other individuals. This level of activity, involving 6 distinct examiners, requires a coordinated prosecution strategy to ensure consistency across the 6 pending office actions. For a practitioner, the high ratio of examiners to actions suggests that most matters are being handled independently, reducing the risk that a single examiner's bias will affect the entire portfolio.

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

Portfolio Summary

6
Total Pending OAs
3
Non-Final OAs
1
Final Rejections
2
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 3 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

1
Overdue
1
Due this week
0
Due this month
0
Due in next 60 days
1
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. 3 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (1)Due ≤ 7 days (1)Due later (1)

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.

1
Hard (17%)
5
Medium (83%)
0
Easy (0%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§103 only4 (67%)
§102 only1 (17%)
Multi-statute (no §101)1 (17%)

Industry Mix

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

0
Life Sciences
0% of docket
0
Information Tech
0% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
2
Semiconductors
33% of docket
4
Mechanical / Eng
67% of docket
0
Business / Other
0% 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.

60 h
Manual time on pending OAs
12 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
21 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
0.5 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
SIPES, JOHN CURTIS 1 78.0% +19.1%
ASSOGBA ONANGA, FRANCK 1 — —
PAIK, SANG YEOP 1 65.5% +16.3%
MALDONADO, STEVEN 1 26.9% +42.9%
ULATOWSKI, EMMA ELIZABETH 1 0.0% +0.0%
WEN, KEVIN GUANHUA 1 61.3% +39.4%

Hard Cases (2)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18134870 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS MALDONADO, STEVEN 6d
18113357 LASER BEAM IRRADIATION OPTICAL UNIT AND LASER MACHINING APPARATUS ULATOWSKI, EMMA ELIZABETH 62d

Interview Candidates (4)

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 4 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
17944701 THERMAL RADIATION ELEMENT, THERMAL RADIATION ELEMENT MODULE, AND THERMAL RADIATION LIGHT SOURCE WEN, KEVIN GUANHUA 44d overdue
18134870 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS MALDONADO, STEVEN 6d
18964680 ZOOM LENS AND IMAGING APPARATUS SIPES, JOHN CURTIS —
18624177 THERMAL EMITTER MODULE AND THERMAL RADIATION LIGHT SOURCE PAIK, SANG YEOP —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
3761 3
2872 1
2871 1
3797 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
18964680 ZOOM LENS AND IMAGING APPARATUS SIPES, JOHN CURTIS 2872 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 02, 2024
18936428 DIMMING DEVICE, LASER MACHINING DEVICE, AND LASER BEAM MEASUREMENT DEVICE ASSOGBA ONANGA, FRANCK 2871 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 04, 2024
18624177 THERMAL EMITTER MODULE AND THERMAL RADIATION LIGHT SOURCE PAIK, SANG YEOP 3761 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 02, 2024
18134870 IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS MALDONADO, STEVEN 3797 §103 Non-Final OA 6d Pending Apr 14, 2023
18113357 LASER BEAM IRRADIATION OPTICAL UNIT AND LASER MACHINING APPARATUS ULATOWSKI, EMMA ELIZABETH 3761 §102§103§112 Final Rejection 62d Pending Feb 23, 2023
17944701 THERMAL RADIATION ELEMENT, THERMAL RADIATION ELEMENT MODULE, AND THERMAL RADIATION LIGHT SOURCE WEN, KEVIN GUANHUA 3761 §103 Non-Final OA 44d overdue Pending Sep 14, 2022

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many pending USPTO office actions does Tamron Co., Ltd. have?

Tamron Co., Ltd. has 6 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 4 art units and 6 examiners.

Which USPTO examiner handles the most Tamron Co., Ltd. applications?

John Curtis Sipes has the most, with 1 of Tamron Co., Ltd.'s pending office actions.

What technology area are Tamron Co., Ltd.'s patent applications in?

Mostly Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering (USPTO Tech Center 3700), based on where its pending office actions are examined.

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