Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 16, 2026

Ulvac Inc.

8 pending office actions • 5 art units • 7 examiners • 0 of 8 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 6 patents granted in the last 365 days

Portfolio Summary

8
Total Pending OAs
5
Non-Final OAs
2
Final Rejections
1
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

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.

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

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.

3
Hard (38%)
4
Medium (50%)
1
Easy (12%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§103 only4 (50%)
§112 only1 (12%)
Multi-statute (no §101)3 (38%)

Industry Mix

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

5
Life Sciences
62% of docket
0
Information Tech
0% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
1
Semiconductors
12% of docket
1
Mechanical / Eng
12% of docket
1
Business / Other
12% 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.

80 h
Manual time on pending OAs
16 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
28 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
0.7 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN 2 63.4% +24.4%
DAGENAIS, KRISTEN A 1 63.6% +20.2%
OTT, PATRICK S 1 68.0% +21.8%
KLUNK, MARGARET D 1 44.1% +31.7%
PENCE, JETHRO M 1 78.8% +25.4%
REIDA, MOLLY KAY 1 82.8% +2.2%
MCCORMACK, JOHN PATRICK 1 71.2% +28.9%

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
18265250 NONVOLATILE MEMORY DEVICE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREFOR REIDA, MOLLY KAY

Hard Cases (3)

Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
18942842 PROCESS FOR PRE-LITHIATION AND EQUIPMENT FOR IMPLEMENTING THE SAME DAGENAIS, KRISTEN A
18807175 PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN
18408369 ETCHING DEVICE AND ETCHING METHOD KLUNK, MARGARET D

Interview Candidates (7)

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 7 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
17996985 VACUUM FREEZE-DRYING METHOD, INJECTION NOZZLE FOR A VACUUM FREEZE-DRYING APPARATUS, AND VACUUM FREEZE-DRYING APPARATUS MCCORMACK, JOHN PATRICK 65d
18942842 PROCESS FOR PRE-LITHIATION AND EQUIPMENT FOR IMPLEMENTING THE SAME DAGENAIS, KRISTEN A
18845583 FILM DEPOSITION METHOD OTT, PATRICK S
18807175 PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN
18408369 ETCHING DEVICE AND ETCHING METHOD KLUNK, MARGARET D
18361293 VACUUM TREATMENT APPARATUS AND VACUUM TREATMENT METHOD MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN
18360950 VACUUM TREATMENT APPARATUS AND VACUUM TREATMENT METHOD PENCE, JETHRO M

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
1717 2
1794 2
1716 1
2899 1
3762 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
18942842 PROCESS FOR PRE-LITHIATION AND EQUIPMENT FOR IMPLEMENTING THE SAME DAGENAIS, KRISTEN A 1717 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending Nov 11, 2024
18845583 FILM DEPOSITION METHOD OTT, PATRICK S 1794 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Sep 10, 2024
18807175 PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending Aug 16, 2024
18408369 ETCHING DEVICE AND ETCHING METHOD KLUNK, MARGARET D 1716 §103§112 Final Rejection Pending Jan 09, 2024
18361293 VACUUM TREATMENT APPARATUS AND VACUUM TREATMENT METHOD MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN 1794 §112 Non-Final OA Pending Jul 28, 2023
18360950 VACUUM TREATMENT APPARATUS AND VACUUM TREATMENT METHOD PENCE, JETHRO M 1717 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Jul 28, 2023
18265250 NONVOLATILE MEMORY DEVICE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREFOR REIDA, MOLLY KAY 2899 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Jun 03, 2023
17996985 VACUUM FREEZE-DRYING METHOD, INJECTION NOZZLE FOR A VACUUM FREEZE-DRYING APPARATUS, AND VACUUM FREEZE-DRYING APPARATUS MCCORMACK, JOHN PATRICK 3762 §103 Final Rejection 65d Pending Oct 24, 2022

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