Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
21 pending office actions • 10 art units • 17 examiners • 0 of 21 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 43 patents granted in the last 365 days
Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. has 20 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These matters are spread across 9 distinct art units, showing a diverse range of mechanical innovations within their portfolio. The prosecution of these 20 pending actions involves 17 distinct examiners, indicating that the company is dealing with a wide variety of individual examination styles at the USPTO.
JOSHUA G KOTIS is the busiest examiner for the portfolio, currently handling 2 pending office actions. This leaves the other pending actions to be distributed among the 17 distinct examiners. With 9 distinct art units involved, the company must navigate multiple technical silos, each potentially having its own interpretation of mechanical engineering standards. The high number of examiners relative to the pending workload suggests that there is limited opportunity for consolidated negotiation, as cases are generally reviewed by different officials.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 1 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 | 3 (14%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 2 (10%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 16 (76%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KOTIS, JOSHUA G | 2 | 74.2% | +57.0% |
| DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | 2 | 68.9% | +14.1% |
| KHATRI, PRASHANT J | 2 | 61.4% | +28.0% |
| MIGGINS, MICHAEL C | 2 | 80.8% | +16.6% |
| SMALLEY, JAMES N | 1 | 70.7% | -9.9% |
| SEIF, DARIUSH | 1 | 70.5% | +6.2% |
| LEE, JONATHAN S | 1 | 84.5% | +9.6% |
| COLLINS, MICHAEL | 1 | 70.8% | +23.0% |
| SUTHERLAND, STEVEN M | 1 | 82.0% | +15.5% |
| LEFF, STEVEN N | 1 | 41.3% | +7.9% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19323633 | CLOSURE ASSEMBLY FOR A CONTAINER AND CONTAINER HAVING A CLOSURE ASSEMBLY | SMALLEY, JAMES N | — |
| 19162203 | ULTRASONIC SEALING SYSTEM AND ANVIL THEREOF | KOTIS, JOSHUA G | — |
| 19159741 | CONVEYING APPARATUS, CAPPING MACHINE, PACKAGING PLANT AND METHOD FOR CONVEYING PACKAGES | SEIF, DARIUSH | — |
| 19153063 | A MOVABLE MEMBER FOR A SYSTEM FOR SUPPORTING PRODUCTION OF PACKAGES, CORRESPONDING SYSTEM, FILLING MACHINE AND METHOD | KOTIS, JOSHUA G | — |
| 19100330 | PACKAGING BLANK FOR FORMING A PACKAGE AND PACKAGE FORMED FROM A PACKAGING BLANK | DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | — |
| 19100003 | PACKAGING BLANK FOR FORMING A PACKAGE AND PACKAGE FORMED FROM A PACKAGING BLANK | DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | — |
| 18865840 | EVALUATING THE SEALING QUALITY OF A SEALING STRIP SEALED TO A PACKAGING WEB IN A PACKAGING MACHINE | LEE, JONATHAN S | — |
| 18839902 | AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SPARE-PARTS MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING IN A CONTAINER PACKAGING LINE | COLLINS, MICHAEL | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19162203 | ULTRASONIC SEALING SYSTEM AND ANVIL THEREOF | KOTIS, JOSHUA G | — |
| 19153063 | A MOVABLE MEMBER FOR A SYSTEM FOR SUPPORTING PRODUCTION OF PACKAGES, CORRESPONDING SYSTEM, FILLING MACHINE AND METHOD | KOTIS, JOSHUA G | — |
| 19100330 | PACKAGING BLANK FOR FORMING A PACKAGE AND PACKAGE FORMED FROM A PACKAGING BLANK | DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | — |
| 19100003 | PACKAGING BLANK FOR FORMING A PACKAGE AND PACKAGE FORMED FROM A PACKAGING BLANK | DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | — |
| 18839902 | AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SPARE-PARTS MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING IN A CONTAINER PACKAGING LINE | COLLINS, MICHAEL | — |
| 18836125 | A DRINKING STRAW, A DEVICE FOR FORMING A DRINKING STRAW, A METHOD FOR FORMING A DRINKING STRAW AND A LIQUID FOOD PACKAGE | SUTHERLAND, STEVEN M | — |
| 18710019 | LAMINATED PACKAGING MATERIAL AND PACKAGING CONTAINER COMPRISING A BARRIER-COATED CELLULOSE-BASED SUBSTRATE | KHATRI, PRASHANT J | — |
| 18710076 | BARRIER-COATED CELLULOSE-BASED SUBSTRATE FOR LAMINATED PACKAGING MATERIAL | KHATRI, PRASHANT J | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3731 | 3 |
| 3752 | 2 |
| 1782 | 2 |
| 1793 | 2 |
| 3733 | 1 |
| 1792 | 1 |
| 2855 | 1 |
| 1717 | 1 |
| 3627 | 1 |
| 3734 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19323633 | CLOSURE ASSEMBLY FOR A CONTAINER AND CONTAINER HAVING A CLOSURE ASSEMBLY | SMALLEY, JAMES N | 3733 | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 09, 2025 |
| 19162203 | ULTRASONIC SEALING SYSTEM AND ANVIL THEREOF | KOTIS, JOSHUA G | 3731 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 04, 2025 |
| 19159741 | CONVEYING APPARATUS, CAPPING MACHINE, PACKAGING PLANT AND METHOD FOR CONVEYING PACKAGES | SEIF, DARIUSH | 3731 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 26, 2025 |
| 19153063 | A MOVABLE MEMBER FOR A SYSTEM FOR SUPPORTING PRODUCTION OF PACKAGES, CORRESPONDING SYSTEM, FILLING MACHINE AND METHOD | KOTIS, JOSHUA G | 3731 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 01, 2025 |
| 19100330 | PACKAGING BLANK FOR FORMING A PACKAGE AND PACKAGE FORMED FROM A PACKAGING BLANK | DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 31, 2025 |
| 19100003 | PACKAGING BLANK FOR FORMING A PACKAGE AND PACKAGE FORMED FROM A PACKAGING BLANK | DEMEREE, CHRISTOPHER R | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 30, 2025 |
| 18865840 | EVALUATING THE SEALING QUALITY OF A SEALING STRIP SEALED TO A PACKAGING WEB IN A PACKAGING MACHINE | LEE, JONATHAN S | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 14, 2024 |
| 18839902 | AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SPARE-PARTS MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING IN A CONTAINER PACKAGING LINE | COLLINS, MICHAEL | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 20, 2024 |
| 18836125 | A DRINKING STRAW, A DEVICE FOR FORMING A DRINKING STRAW, A METHOD FOR FORMING A DRINKING STRAW AND A LIQUID FOOD PACKAGE | SUTHERLAND, STEVEN M | 3752 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 06, 2024 |
| 18720326 | A METHOD FOR MONITORING A FOOD PROCESSING SYSTEM | LEFF, STEVEN N | 1792 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 14, 2024 |
| 18719324 | SEALING QUALITY TESTING APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE QUALITY OF A SEALING BAND, PACKAGING PLANT HAVING A SEALING QUALITY TESTING APPARATUS, METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE QUALITY OF A SEALING BAND AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING COMPOSITE PACKAGES | KOLB, NATHANIEL J | 2855 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 13, 2024 |
| 18717350 | PACKAGING MATERIAL LAMINATE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME | TAWFIK, SAMEH | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 06, 2024 |
| 18710019 | LAMINATED PACKAGING MATERIAL AND PACKAGING CONTAINER COMPRISING A BARRIER-COATED CELLULOSE-BASED SUBSTRATE | KHATRI, PRASHANT J | — | §102§103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 14, 2024 |
| 18710076 | BARRIER-COATED CELLULOSE-BASED SUBSTRATE FOR LAMINATED PACKAGING MATERIAL | KHATRI, PRASHANT J | 1717 | §103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 14, 2024 |
| 18683699 | LAMINATED PACKAGING MATERIAL, AND A METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING | MIGGINS, MICHAEL C | 1782 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 14, 2024 |
| 18683372 | LAMINATED PACKAGING MATERIAL, AND A METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING | MIGGINS, MICHAEL C | 1782 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 13, 2024 |
| 18578048 | A METHOD FOR PRODUCTION OF BEVERAGES | KOHLER, STEPHANIE A | 1793 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 10, 2024 |
| 18571020 | STOCK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD IN A FILLING PLANT FOR PACKAGING POURABLE FOOD PRODUCTS INTO COMPOSITE PACKAGES | OBAID, FATEH M | 3627 | §103 | Final Rejection | 2d overdue | Pending | Dec 15, 2023 |
| 18566163 | DRINKING STRAW AND PACKAGE | BOECKMANN, JASON J | 3752 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 01, 2023 |
| 18549370 | BATCH PRODUCTION OF PLANT MILK | TRAN, LIEN THUY | 1793 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 07, 2023 |
| 17624156 | PACKAGING MATERIAL AND A MANUFACTURING PROCESS THEREOF | BATTISTI, DEREK J | 3734 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 30, 2021 |
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