Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
3 pending office actions • 3 art units • 3 examiners • 0 of 3 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 9 patents granted in the last 365 days
Tsubakimoto Chain Co. is currently managing 2 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are split between multiple distinct examiners and 2 distinct art units. Darlington Nduka Ibekwe is the busiest examiner for the portfolio, with 1 pending office action currently under review.
The company's prosecution is decentralized, as the 2 pending office actions are distributed across the art units. This variety suggests that the matters cover different mechanical or medical engineering innovations. Darlington Nduka Ibekwe handles a portion of these actions, while the other is assigned to a different individual among the examiners.
With a small volume of pending office actions total, the company maintains a diverse presence in the patent office. The involvement of multiple distinct examiners across 2 distinct art units means that the portfolio's success is not tied to a single examiner's discretion. This structure requires the company to address the specific requirements of different art units within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering sector.
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 | 1 (33%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (67%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| OLSZEWSKI, JOHN | 1 | 63.3% | +19.0% |
| IBEKWE, DARLINGTON NDUKA | 1 | 33.3% | +100.0% |
| MACKEY, PATRICK HEWEY | 1 | 83.6% | +12.4% |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19283594 | PARKING LOCK CLUTCH | OLSZEWSKI, JOHN | — |
| 17917623 | DATA COLLECTION METHOD, DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM | MACKEY, PATRICK HEWEY | — |
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 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18422096 | LINK PLATE AND CHAIN | IBEKWE, DARLINGTON NDUKA | 3d overdue |
| 19283594 | PARKING LOCK CLUTCH | OLSZEWSKI, JOHN | — |
| 17917623 | DATA COLLECTION METHOD, DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM | MACKEY, PATRICK HEWEY | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3617 | 1 |
| 3725 | 1 |
| 3653 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19283594 | PARKING LOCK CLUTCH | OLSZEWSKI, JOHN | 3617 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 29, 2025 |
| 18422096 | LINK PLATE AND CHAIN | IBEKWE, DARLINGTON NDUKA | 3725 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 3d overdue | Pending | Jan 25, 2024 |
| 17917623 | DATA COLLECTION METHOD, DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM | MACKEY, PATRICK HEWEY | 3653 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Oct 07, 2022 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free Trial