Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems
4 pending office actions • 1 art units • 4 examiners • 0 of 4 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 12 patents granted in the last 365 days
VALQUA, LTD. has 4 pending office actions concentrated within a single technology area: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems. Despite the volume of 4 pending actions, the prosecution is centralized within 1 distinct art unit. This concentration suggests that the subject matter remains within a specific technical silo, even as it is reviewed by 4 distinct examiners.
The distribution of work shows that each of the 4 distinct examiners is handling 1 matter, as evidenced by the busiest examiner, FOSTER, NICHOLAS L, having 1 pending action. For practitioners, this means that while the 1 distinct art unit provides a consistent administrative backdrop, they must navigate the individual preferences of 4 different examiners. The 4 pending office actions represent a diverse set of perspectives within that single art unit, requiring a strategy that accounts for the varied approaches of the 4 distinct examiners involved.
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 (25%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (75%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOSTER, NICHOLAS L | 1 | 75.4% | +24.8% |
| NEJAD, MAHDI H | 1 | 73.9% | +29.2% |
| CORMIER, DAVID G | 1 | 64.4% | +28.8% |
| KHAN, TAHSEEN | 1 | 61.7% | +20.5% |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19154673 | SEAL STRUCTURE AND BACKUP MEMBER | FOSTER, NICHOLAS L | — |
| 18995233 | Support Jig and Tank Cleaning Method | NEJAD, MAHDI H | — |
| 18995196 | Cleaning Device and Method of Cleaning Tank | CORMIER, DAVID G | — |
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 4 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19154673 | SEAL STRUCTURE AND BACKUP MEMBER | FOSTER, NICHOLAS L | — |
| 18995233 | Support Jig and Tank Cleaning Method | NEJAD, MAHDI H | — |
| 18995196 | Cleaning Device and Method of Cleaning Tank | CORMIER, DAVID G | — |
| 18835510 | ANNULAR LAMINATE, SEAL MATERIAL, AND MANUFACTURING METHOD | KHAN, TAHSEEN | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3675 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19154673 | SEAL STRUCTURE AND BACKUP MEMBER | FOSTER, NICHOLAS L | 3675 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 07, 2025 |
| 18995233 | Support Jig and Tank Cleaning Method | NEJAD, MAHDI H | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 16, 2025 |
| 18995196 | Cleaning Device and Method of Cleaning Tank | CORMIER, DAVID G | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 16, 2025 |
| 18835510 | ANNULAR LAMINATE, SEAL MATERIAL, AND MANUFACTURING METHOD | KHAN, TAHSEEN | — | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Aug 02, 2024 |
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