Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals • Chemistry & Materials • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
8 pending office actions • 4 art units • 8 examiners • 0 of 8 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 12 patents granted in the last 365 days
The Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama currently manages 9 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These 9 actions are distributed among 9 distinct examiners, resulting in a ratio of one pending matter per examiner. This distribution indicates that no single examiner has a concentrated influence over the portfolio. These actions are spread across 5 distinct art units, suggesting that the university's research in Chemistry & Materials spans several different technical sub-groups.
JOYCE, WILLIAM C is identified as the busiest examiner for the portfolio, though they are only responsible for 1 pending office action. Given that all 9 examiners are each handling exactly 1 pending action, the workload is balanced across the individual examiners. The involvement of 5 distinct art units for the 9 pending actions means that some art units are reviewing multiple applications. Practitioners should look for consistency in technical interpretations within those 5 units while addressing the 9 unique examiners.
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 | 2 (25%) |
| §102 only | 2 (25%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 4 (50%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| JOYCE, WILLIAM C | 1 | 69.6% | +16.0% |
| KWON, JOHN SEUNGJAI | 1 | 45.7% | +19.3% |
| EBBINGHAUS, BRIANA NOEL | 1 | 61.6% | +63.5% |
| HIGGINS, GERARD T | 1 | 63.3% | +39.4% |
| LEESER, ERICH A | 1 | 81.8% | +13.3% |
| BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | 1 | 81.5% | +14.9% |
| HAUPT, KRISTY A | 1 | 87.8% | +11.2% |
| CASE, SARAH CATHERINE | 1 | 41.1% | +50.8% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18397327 | NANOPARTICLES WITH ANTI-INFLAMMATORY PROPERTIES AND ENHANCED PENETRATION ACROSS THE BIOLOGICAL BARRIERS TO DELIVER ENCAPSULATED DRUGS | LEESER, ERICH A | — |
| 18505248 | METHOD OF CHEMICAL LOOPING REFORMING AT LOW TEMPERATURES WITH HYDROGEN FROM WATER SPLITTING | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18959803 | EXOSOMAL COMPOSITIONS INCLUDING ANESTHETICS | KWON, JOHN SEUNGJAI | — |
| 18772579 | SCALABLE BIOMANUFACTURING OF TUMOR ORGANOIDS | EBBINGHAUS, BRIANA NOEL | — |
| 18770905 | MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL EMULSIONS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USE THEREOF | HIGGINS, GERARD T | — |
| 18498708 | ADAPTIVE POWER SYSTEMS AND CONTROL METHODS WITH STATE-OF-CHARGE OR STATE-OF-ENERGY/POWER BALANCING | HAUPT, KRISTY A | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18116448 | TREATMENT OF REINFORCEMENTS TO IMPROVE THE INTERFACE TRANSITION ZONE IN CONCRETES | CASE, SARAH CATHERINE | 28d overdue |
| 19267848 | RECONFIGURABLE MODULAR SOFT ROBOTS AND METHODS OF DESIGNING THE SAME | JOYCE, WILLIAM C | — |
| 18959803 | EXOSOMAL COMPOSITIONS INCLUDING ANESTHETICS | KWON, JOHN SEUNGJAI | — |
| 18772579 | SCALABLE BIOMANUFACTURING OF TUMOR ORGANOIDS | EBBINGHAUS, BRIANA NOEL | — |
| 18770905 | MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL EMULSIONS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USE THEREOF | HIGGINS, GERARD T | — |
| 18397327 | NANOPARTICLES WITH ANTI-INFLAMMATORY PROPERTIES AND ENHANCED PENETRATION ACROSS THE BIOLOGICAL BARRIERS TO DELIVER ENCAPSULATED DRUGS | LEESER, ERICH A | — |
| 18505248 | METHOD OF CHEMICAL LOOPING REFORMING AT LOW TEMPERATURES WITH HYDROGEN FROM WATER SPLITTING | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | — |
| 18498708 | ADAPTIVE POWER SYSTEMS AND CONTROL METHODS WITH STATE-OF-CHARGE OR STATE-OF-ENERGY/POWER BALANCING | HAUPT, KRISTY A | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3618 | 1 |
| 1622 | 1 |
| 1736 | 1 |
| 1731 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19267848 | RECONFIGURABLE MODULAR SOFT ROBOTS AND METHODS OF DESIGNING THE SAME | JOYCE, WILLIAM C | 3618 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 14, 2025 |
| 18959803 | EXOSOMAL COMPOSITIONS INCLUDING ANESTHETICS | KWON, JOHN SEUNGJAI | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 26, 2024 |
| 18772579 | SCALABLE BIOMANUFACTURING OF TUMOR ORGANOIDS | EBBINGHAUS, BRIANA NOEL | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 15, 2024 |
| 18770905 | MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL EMULSIONS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USE THEREOF | HIGGINS, GERARD T | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 12, 2024 |
| 18397327 | NANOPARTICLES WITH ANTI-INFLAMMATORY PROPERTIES AND ENHANCED PENETRATION ACROSS THE BIOLOGICAL BARRIERS TO DELIVER ENCAPSULATED DRUGS | LEESER, ERICH A | 1622 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 27, 2023 |
| 18505248 | METHOD OF CHEMICAL LOOPING REFORMING AT LOW TEMPERATURES WITH HYDROGEN FROM WATER SPLITTING | BAUM, ZACHARY JOHN | 1736 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 09, 2023 |
| 18498708 | ADAPTIVE POWER SYSTEMS AND CONTROL METHODS WITH STATE-OF-CHARGE OR STATE-OF-ENERGY/POWER BALANCING | HAUPT, KRISTY A | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 31, 2023 |
| 18116448 | TREATMENT OF REINFORCEMENTS TO IMPROVE THE INTERFACE TRANSITION ZONE IN CONCRETES | CASE, SARAH CATHERINE | 1731 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 28d overdue | Pending | Mar 02, 2023 |
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