Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
8 pending office actions • 6 art units • 7 examiners • 0 of 8 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 8 patents granted in the last 365 days
Ulvac Inc. is currently managing 8 pending office actions in the Chemistry & Materials technology area. These actions are distributed across 6 distinct art units, demonstrating a broad technical range within the materials sector. The portfolio involves 7 distinct examiners, which indicates that nearly every pending matter is being handled by a different individual at the USPTO. Such a distribution suggests that the company must manage several unique examiner relationships at once.
MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN is the busiest examiner for Ulvac Inc., with 2 pending office actions under review. These 2 actions represent a portion of the 8 pending office actions total for the company. The high number of 6 distinct art units suggests that the company's innovations span multiple specialized classifications. Practitioners should prepare for varied examination styles given that 7 distinct examiners are currently engaged with the portfolio, each potentially applying different interpretations of Chemistry & Materials standards.
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.
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.
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 | 4 (50%) |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN | 2 | 63.6% | +24.4% |
| BENNETT, CHARLEE | 1 | 58.6% | +34.9% |
| DAGENAIS, KRISTEN A | 1 | 63.8% | +20.2% |
| CARTER, JONATHAN LANGDON | 1 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| SONG, MATTHEW J | 1 | 60.4% | +13.9% |
| KLUNK, MARGARET D | 1 | 44.0% | +31.5% |
| MCCORMACK, JOHN PATRICK | 1 | 71.3% | +28.8% |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18761500 | ETCHING APPARATUS AND ETCHING METHOD | CARTER, JONATHAN LANGDON | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18987741 | VACUUM TREATMENT APPARATUS AND VACUUM TREATMENT METHOD | BENNETT, CHARLEE | 40d |
| 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 | — |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18872170 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING SPECIFIC RESISTIVITY AND STRESS OF TUNGSTEN THROUGH PVD SPUTTERING METHOD | MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN | 19d |
| 18987741 | VACUUM TREATMENT APPARATUS AND VACUUM TREATMENT METHOD | BENNETT, CHARLEE | 40d |
| 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 | — |
| 18807175 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR | MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN | — |
| 18700218 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING CRYSTALLIZED LAMINATED STRUCTURE | SONG, MATTHEW J | — |
| 18408369 | ETCHING DEVICE AND ETCHING METHOD | KLUNK, MARGARET D | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1718 | 1 |
| 1794 | 1 |
| 1717 | 1 |
| 1714 | 1 |
| 1716 | 1 |
| 3762 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18987741 | VACUUM TREATMENT APPARATUS AND VACUUM TREATMENT METHOD | BENNETT, CHARLEE | 1718 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 40d | Pending | Dec 19, 2024 |
| 18872170 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING SPECIFIC RESISTIVITY AND STRESS OF TUNGSTEN THROUGH PVD SPUTTERING METHOD | MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN | 1794 | §103 | Final Rejection | 19d | Pending | Dec 05, 2024 |
| 18942842 | PROCESS FOR PRE-LITHIATION AND EQUIPMENT FOR IMPLEMENTING THE SAME | DAGENAIS, KRISTEN A | 1717 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 11, 2024 |
| 18807175 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR | MCDONALD, RODNEY GLENN | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 16, 2024 |
| 18761500 | ETCHING APPARATUS AND ETCHING METHOD | CARTER, JONATHAN LANGDON | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 02, 2024 |
| 18700218 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING CRYSTALLIZED LAMINATED STRUCTURE | SONG, MATTHEW J | 1714 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 10, 2024 |
| 18408369 | ETCHING DEVICE AND ETCHING METHOD | KLUNK, MARGARET D | 1716 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 09, 2024 |
| 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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