Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 18, 2026

Western Digital Technologies Inc.

51 pending office actions • 23 art units • 36 examiners • 0 of 51 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 170 patents granted in the last 365 days

Portfolio Summary

51
Total Pending OAs
33
Non-Final OAs
17
Final Rejections
1
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 12 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

6
Overdue
1
Due this week
2
Due this month
3
Due in next 60 days
0
Due later

Deadline Fire Line

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. 12 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (6)Due ≤ 7 days (1)Due ≤ 30 days (2)Due ≤ 60 days (3)

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.

23
Hard (45%)
24
Medium (47%)
4
Easy (8%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 only1 (2%)
§101 + other3 (6%)
§103 only20 (39%)
§102 only3 (6%)
§112 only2 (4%)
Double-patenting only2 (4%)
Double-patenting + other1 (2%)
Multi-statute (no §101)19 (37%)

Industry Mix

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

10
Life Sciences
20% of docket
7
Information Tech
14% of docket
14
Communications
27% of docket
17
Semiconductors
33% of docket
2
Mechanical / Eng
4% of docket
1
Business / Other
2% 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.

510 h
Manual time on pending OAs
102 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
178 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
4.5 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 8 80.8% +18.2%
RENNER, CRAIG A 5 84.3% +17.6%
CHAU, LISA N 3 25.0% +17.0%
RAMIREZ, ALEXANDRE XAVIER 2 94.6% -2.1%
RAMALLO, GUSTAVO G 2 95.2% +2.4%
AGUSTIN, PETER VINCENT 1 84.0% +12.5%
TRAN, TAN N 1 86.8% +10.0%
SPIELER, WILLIAM 1 73.5% +9.8%
CHAU, LINDA N 1 44.5% +15.9%
UNELUS, ERNEST 1 77.2% +38.7%

Quick Wins (12)

Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
18349560 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE HAVING CONTROLLED LATERAL ISOLATION TRENCH DEPTH AND METHODS OF FORMING THE SAME RAMIREZ, ALEXANDRE XAVIER 37d overdue
18890207 Dual Free Layer TMR Reader With Shaped Rear Bias and Methods of Forming Thereof KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 46d
19237544 LUBRICANTS AND METHODS TO DETERMINE DEWETTING THICKNESS THEREOF AGUSTIN, PETER VINCENT 50d
19244507 Magnetic Recording Head with A Cross-Track Current Flow In A Low Resistance Path KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH
19233374 RAMP SUPPORT FOR A MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICE RENNER, CRAIG A
19227025 HARD DISK DRIVE INTERPOSE SWAGE KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH
19201452 Middle Shields Two-Dimensional Magnetic Recording Read Heads KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH
19076557 SUSPENSION ARM AND SLIDER CONTACT FOR MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICE KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH

Hard Cases (24)

Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
18361575 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE CONTAINING OVERLYING THIN FILM TRANSISTOR CONTROL CIRCUIT AND METHOD OF MAKING THEREOF YUSHINA, GALINA G 9d
18343173 REDUCING DATA COMMUNICATIONS IN DISTRIBUTED INFERENCE SCHEMES PHAM, JESSICA THUY 55d
19221385 HARD DISK DRIVE SUSPENSION FINE ACTUATOR WITH MINIATURIZED SINGLE-LAYER PIEZOELECTRIC ELEMENTS KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH
18956203 THERMO-MECHANICAL-OPTICAL BONDING OF LUBRICANTS TO CARBON OVERCOAT OF MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIA CHAU, LISA N
18887906 MODULAR ARCHITECTURE FOR HARD DISK DRIVE STORAGE SYSTEM RENNER, CRAIG A
18822414 RETRIEVAL-AUGMENTED GENERATION FOR LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS SPIELER, WILLIAM
18749413 Dual Free Layer TMR Reader with Shaped Rear Bias and Methods of Forming Thereof KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH
18673038 MAGNETIC RECORDING APPARATUS WITH HEAT-ASSISTED READ PROCESS CHAU, LINDA N

Interview Candidates (20)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18890207 Dual Free Layer TMR Reader With Shaped Rear Bias and Methods of Forming Thereof KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 46d
19237544 LUBRICANTS AND METHODS TO DETERMINE DEWETTING THICKNESS THEREOF AGUSTIN, PETER VINCENT 50d
19244507 Magnetic Recording Head with A Cross-Track Current Flow In A Low Resistance Path KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH
19233374 RAMP SUPPORT FOR A MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICE RENNER, CRAIG A
19227025 HARD DISK DRIVE INTERPOSE SWAGE KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH
19221385 HARD DISK DRIVE SUSPENSION FINE ACTUATOR WITH MINIATURIZED SINGLE-LAYER PIEZOELECTRIC ELEMENTS KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH
19201452 Middle Shields Two-Dimensional Magnetic Recording Read Heads KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH
19076557 SUSPENSION ARM AND SLIDER CONTACT FOR MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICE KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
2688 14
1785 6
2812 5
2813 3
2817 3
2897 2
2159 1
2181 1
1795 1
2818 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
19244507 Magnetic Recording Head with A Cross-Track Current Flow In A Low Resistance Path KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 2688 §102 Non-Final OA Pending Jun 20, 2025
19237544 LUBRICANTS AND METHODS TO DETERMINE DEWETTING THICKNESS THEREOF AGUSTIN, PETER VINCENT 2688 DP Final Rejection 50d Pending Jun 13, 2025
19233374 RAMP SUPPORT FOR A MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICE RENNER, CRAIG A 2688 §112Other Non-Final OA Pending Jun 10, 2025
19227025 HARD DISK DRIVE INTERPOSE SWAGE KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 2688 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Jun 03, 2025
19221385 HARD DISK DRIVE SUSPENSION FINE ACTUATOR WITH MINIATURIZED SINGLE-LAYER PIEZOELECTRIC ELEMENTS KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 2688 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending May 28, 2025
19201452 Middle Shields Two-Dimensional Magnetic Recording Read Heads KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 2688 §103 Non-Final OA Pending May 07, 2025
19076557 SUSPENSION ARM AND SLIDER CONTACT FOR MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICE KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 2688 DP Non-Final OA Pending Mar 11, 2025
18956203 THERMO-MECHANICAL-OPTICAL BONDING OF LUBRICANTS TO CARBON OVERCOAT OF MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIA CHAU, LISA N 1785 §102§103§112 Final Rejection Pending Nov 22, 2024
18889747 Doping Process To Refine Grain Size For Smoother BiSb Film Surface TRAN, TAN N 2812 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Sep 19, 2024
18890207 Dual Free Layer TMR Reader With Shaped Rear Bias and Methods of Forming Thereof KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 2688 §103 Non-Final OA 46d Pending Sep 19, 2024
18887906 MODULAR ARCHITECTURE FOR HARD DISK DRIVE STORAGE SYSTEM RENNER, CRAIG A 2688 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending Sep 17, 2024
18830299 INTER-COVER PLACEMENT OF GAS-PRODUCING SUBSTANCES IN DATA STORAGE DEVICES KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 2688 §103 Final Rejection Pending Sep 10, 2024
18822414 RETRIEVAL-AUGMENTED GENERATION FOR LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS SPIELER, WILLIAM 2159 §101 Non-Final OA Pending Sep 02, 2024
18749413 Dual Free Layer TMR Reader with Shaped Rear Bias and Methods of Forming Thereof KLIMOWICZ, WILLIAM JOSEPH 2688 §103§112 Final Rejection Pending Jun 20, 2024
18673038 MAGNETIC RECORDING APPARATUS WITH HEAT-ASSISTED READ PROCESS CHAU, LINDA N 1785 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending May 23, 2024
18670512 DATA STORAGE DEVICE WITH NOISE INJECTION UNELUS, ERNEST 2181 §103Other Non-Final OA Pending May 21, 2024
18656812 MEDIA LUBRICANTS SYNTHESIS WITH CLICK CHEMISTRY CHAU, LISA N 1785 §103§112 Final Rejection Pending May 07, 2024
18593481 HIGH TEMPERATURE LUBRICANTS FOR MAGNETIC MEDIA HAVING MORE THERMALLY STABLE END GROUPS CHAU, LISA N 1785 §103 Final Rejection Pending Mar 01, 2024
18397016 Magnetic Heads Having Low Magnetic Coercivity (HC) And High Saturated Magnetic Flux Density (BS) In Ferromagnetic (FM) Layer(s) Or Shield(s) With Minimized Saturation RENNER, CRAIG A 2688 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA Pending Dec 27, 2023
18396150 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE CONTAINING PERIPHERAL CIRCUIT WITH FIN FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME RAMIREZ, ALEXANDRE XAVIER 2812 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Dec 26, 2023
18532221 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE WITH THROUGH-STACK CONTACT VIA STRUCTURES AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME RAMALLO, GUSTAVO G 2812 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending Dec 07, 2023
18508638 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE CONTAINING LATERALLY UNDULATING ISOLATION TRENCHES AND METHODS OF MAKING THE SAME AHMED, SHAHED 2813 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Nov 14, 2023
18509010 BONDING STRUCTURES FOR HIGH-DENSITY METAL-TO-METAL BONDING AND METHODS FOR FORMING THE SAME LOPEZ, JORGE ANDRES 2897 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Nov 14, 2023
18500188 DUAL SPINDLE MOTORS AND DUAL SPINDLE MOTOR CONTROL FOR DATA STORAGE RENNER, CRAIG A 2688 DPOther Non-Final OA Pending Nov 02, 2023
18499024 NUCLEIC ACID SEQUENCING USING NANOPORES SUN, CAITLYN MINGYUN 1795 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending Oct 31, 2023
18495552 PERIPHERAL CIRCUIT WITH SEMICONDUCTOR PILLAR CONTAINING LOCAL INTERCONNECTS AND METHODS FOR FORMING THE SAME AHMAD, KHAJA 2813 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending Oct 26, 2023
18491297 METAL LINES LOCATED BETWEEN ETCH STOP LAYERS AND SEPARATED BY AIR GAPS AND METHODS OF FORMING THE SAME KEAGY, ROSE ALYSSA 2818 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Oct 20, 2023
18488360 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING SLOPING WORD LINES FOR STAIRLESS CONTACT AND METHODS OF FORMING THE SAME GONZALES, VICENTE ROLANDO 2899 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA Pending Oct 17, 2023
18479457 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICES INCLUDING SELF-ALIGNED SOURCE-CHANNEL JUNCTIONS AND METHODS FOR FORMING THE SAME DUREN, TIMOTHY EDWARD 2817 §103 Final Rejection 10d overdue Pending Oct 02, 2023
18459938 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE WITH PILLAR SHAPED TRENCH BRIDGE STRUCTURES AND METHODS OF FORMING THE SAME MCDONALD, JASON ANDREW 2898 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending Sep 01, 2023
18238952 INTERPOSER FOR TROUBLESHOOTING A BALL GRID ARRAY (BGA) DEVICE AND COUPLING THE BGA DEVICE TO A PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD WITH LIMITED HEAT EXPOSURE CAZAN, LIVIUS RADU 3729 §103 Final Rejection 46d overdue Pending Aug 28, 2023
18455988 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE WITH THROUGH-STACK CONTACT VIA STRUCTURES AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME RAMALLO, GUSTAVO G 2812 §102§112 Non-Final OA Pending Aug 25, 2023
18450150 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING TRENCH BRIDGE STRUCTURES HAVING DIFFERENT VOLUMES AND METHODS OF FORMING THE SAME WEILAND, ADAM DAVID 2813 §102 Final Rejection 10d overdue Pending Aug 15, 2023
18233759 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE WITH LAYER CONTACT VIA STRUCTURES LOCATED IN A MEMORY ARRAY REGION AND METHODS OF FORMING THE SAME TRAN, THANH Y 2817 §102 Non-Final OA Pending Aug 14, 2023
18448398 Exposed Physical Partitions in Solid-State Storage Devices PATEL, KAUSHIKKUMAR M 2138 §112 Final Rejection Pending Aug 11, 2023
18232780 DISAGGREGATED MEMORY MANAGEMENT FOR VIRTUAL MACHINES HU, SELINA ELISA 2193 §101§103 Non-Final OA Pending Aug 10, 2023
18365955 ROTATIONAL DIPPING OF STORAGE DISK MEDIA SULTANA, NAHIDA 1743 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending Aug 04, 2023
18228835 DISK HUB FOR RETAINING AND ROTATING MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIA DURING FILM THICKNESS MEASUREMENT RENNER, CRAIG A 1785 §102§103 Non-Final OA Pending Aug 01, 2023
18361575 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE CONTAINING OVERLYING THIN FILM TRANSISTOR CONTROL CIRCUIT AND METHOD OF MAKING THEREOF YUSHINA, GALINA G 2811 §103§112Other Final Rejection 9d Pending Jul 28, 2023
18361129 System and Method for Measuring Thermal Performance of Substrates used in Semiconductor Device Assembly CHEN, SIMPSON ABRAHAM 3761 §103§112 Non-Final OA Pending Jul 28, 2023
18226199 FOCUSED TESTING AND VERIFICATION OF CIRCUIT DESIGNS USING HARDWARE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE SIMULATION BOWERS, BRANDON §103 Non-Final OA Pending Jul 25, 2023
18355064 Multiple Neural Network Training Nodes in a Read Channel ROSTAMI, MOHAMMAD S 2154 §103 Final Rejection 6d Pending Jul 19, 2023
18222849 METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR FABRICATING GLASS SUBSTRATES FOR USE IN MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIA DEHGHAN, QUEENIE S 1741 §103 Final Rejection 5d overdue Pending Jul 17, 2023
18349560 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE HAVING CONTROLLED LATERAL ISOLATION TRENCH DEPTH AND METHODS OF FORMING THE SAME RAMIREZ, ALEXANDRE XAVIER 2812 §103 Final Rejection 37d overdue Pending Jul 10, 2023
18347371 THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING DISCRETE CHARGE STORAGE ELEMENTS AND METHODS OF MAKING THEREOF KIM, JAHAE 2897 §103§112 Non-Final OA Pending Jul 05, 2023
18347404 SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING METAL INTERCONNECT STRUCTURES THAT CONTAIN SELECTIVELY-GROWN DIELECTRIC SPACERS AND METHODS FOR FORMING THE SAME LEE, DA WEI 2817 §103 Final Rejection 28d Pending Jul 05, 2023
18343173 REDUCING DATA COMMUNICATIONS IN DISTRIBUTED INFERENCE SCHEMES PHAM, JESSICA THUY 2121 §101§102§103§112 Non-Final OA 55d Pending Jun 28, 2023
18204270 CHEMISORBED LUBRICANTS FOR DATA STORAGE DEVICES RICKMAN, HOLLY C 1785 §102§112 Final Rejection Pending May 31, 2023
18128862 PIVOT-TO-ENCLOSURE FASTENING FOR REDUCING TORSIONAL VIBRATION OF ACTUATOR COIL IN HARD DISK DRIVE KIM, MICHELLE JINJU 2688 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Mar 30, 2023
18161209 Management of Storage Devices Utilizing Non-Fungible Tokens WORKU, SARON MATTHEWOS 2408 §103 Non-Final OA 8d overdue Pending Jan 30, 2023
18004402 SINGLE-MOLECULE, REAL-TIME, LABEL-FREE DYNAMIC BIOSENSING WITH NANOSCALE MAGNETIC FIELD SENSORS MARCSISIN, ELLEN JEAN 1677 §101§112 Final Rejection Pending Jan 05, 2023

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