Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
9 pending office actions • 7 art units • 9 examiners • 0 of 9 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 10 patents granted in the last 365 days
VulcanForms Inc. is currently navigating 8 pending office actions within the Chemistry & Materials technology area. This workload is distributed across 6 distinct art units, indicating that the company's materials research spans several specialized classifications. With 8 distinct examiners involved, the prosecution strategy must account for 8 individual examiner approaches and interpretations of the prior art. This level of distribution across 6 distinct art units suggests a portfolio with multiple technical focuses.
The busiest examiner assigned to this portfolio is LIU, XUE H, who is overseeing 1 pending office action. Because the 8 pending office actions are split among 8 distinct examiners, the portfolio lacks a central point of examiner influence. This distribution across 6 distinct art units suggests that the company is pursuing diverse technical paths within the Chemistry & Materials technology area, requiring an understanding of different examination practices. The presence of multiple examiners for the current office actions minimizes the impact that any single examiner's habits might have on the overall portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 5 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. 5 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 | 3 (33%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 6 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| LIU, XUE H | 1 | 73.2% | +12.5% |
| SONG, INJA | 1 | 66.4% | +48.8% |
| PYO, KEVIN K | 1 | 87.0% | +9.9% |
| ISKRA, JOSEPH W | 1 | 71.3% | +27.2% |
| CARPENTER, JOSHUA S | 1 | 51.9% | +36.9% |
| ROBERTS, RACHEL L | 1 | 73.0% | +24.0% |
| CHOU, JIMMY | 1 | 71.0% | +14.9% |
| HEVEY, JOHN A | 1 | 61.6% | +19.9% |
| KHARE, ATUL P | 1 | 54.8% | +72.4% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 6 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18524219 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PREDICTING PART DEFECTS DURING ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING | ROBERTS, RACHEL L | 5d |
| 18204051 | CONTINUOUS AND SEMI-CONTINUOUS ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS AND METHODS | KHARE, ATUL P | 13d |
| 18676128 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF OPTICAL BEAMS | PYO, KEVIN K | 40d |
| 19027194 | ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING BY SPATIALLY CONTROLLED MATERIAL FUSION | LIU, XUE H | — |
| 18524240 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GAS HEAD CLEANING | CARPENTER, JOSHUA S | — |
| 18524356 | ELECTROSTATIC RECOATER | HEVEY, JOHN 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18750585 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR HEATING AND MOUNTING A BUILD PLATE FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING | SONG, INJA | 5d overdue |
| 18524219 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PREDICTING PART DEFECTS DURING ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING | ROBERTS, RACHEL L | 5d |
| 18204051 | CONTINUOUS AND SEMI-CONTINUOUS ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS AND METHODS | KHARE, ATUL P | 13d |
| 18524485 | OPTICS SHIELD | ISKRA, JOSEPH W | 22d |
| 19027194 | ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING BY SPATIALLY CONTROLLED MATERIAL FUSION | LIU, XUE H | — |
| 18524240 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GAS HEAD CLEANING | CARPENTER, JOSHUA S | — |
| 18524543 | OPTICAL PATHS FOR LASER ENERGY SOURCES IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS | CHOU, JIMMY | — |
| 18524356 | ELECTROSTATIC RECOATER | HEVEY, JOHN A | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1742 | 2 |
| 1733 | 2 |
| 1744 | 1 |
| 2878 | 1 |
| 3761 | 1 |
| 2674 | 1 |
| 1735 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19027194 | ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING BY SPATIALLY CONTROLLED MATERIAL FUSION | LIU, XUE H | 1742 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 17, 2025 |
| 18750585 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR HEATING AND MOUNTING A BUILD PLATE FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING | SONG, INJA | 1744 | §103 | Final Rejection | 5d overdue | Pending | Jun 21, 2024 |
| 18676128 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF OPTICAL BEAMS | PYO, KEVIN K | 2878 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | 40d | Pending | May 28, 2024 |
| 18524485 | OPTICS SHIELD | ISKRA, JOSEPH W | 3761 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 22d | Pending | Nov 30, 2023 |
| 18524240 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GAS HEAD CLEANING | CARPENTER, JOSHUA S | 1733 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 30, 2023 |
| 18524219 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PREDICTING PART DEFECTS DURING ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING | ROBERTS, RACHEL L | 2674 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 5d | Pending | Nov 30, 2023 |
| 18524543 | OPTICAL PATHS FOR LASER ENERGY SOURCES IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS | CHOU, JIMMY | 1733 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 30, 2023 |
| 18524356 | ELECTROSTATIC RECOATER | HEVEY, JOHN A | 1735 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Nov 30, 2023 |
| 18204051 | CONTINUOUS AND SEMI-CONTINUOUS ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS AND METHODS | KHARE, ATUL P | 1742 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 13d | Pending | May 31, 2023 |
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