Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
5 pending office actions • 2 art units • 5 examiners • 0 of 5 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 2 patents granted in the last 365 days
ZURIMED TECHNOLOGIES AG manages 5 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These cases are distributed among 5 distinct examiners across 2 distinct art units. LABRANCHE, BROOKE N is the busiest examiner, handling 1 pending office action. The high number of examiners relative to the number of art units suggests a broad engagement with different personnel within a few specific administrative units.
This prosecution profile shows a high degree of examiner diversity, as each of the 5 pending office actions is being reviewed by a different individual. Such a spread can be beneficial for mitigating the risk associated with any single examiner's tendencies. However, the fact that all 5 cases are housed within only 2 distinct art units indicates a very narrow technical focus. Practitioners should be aware that while they are dealing with 5 different examiners, the underlying examination policies of the 2 distinct art units will likely be the dominant factor in prosecution outcomes.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 4 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. 4 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 | 2 (40%) |
| §102 only | 1 (20%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (40%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| THOMAS, NATALIE NICOLE | 1 | — | — |
| LABRANCHE, BROOKE N | 1 | 72.7% | +15.7% |
| SPENCER, MAXIMILIAN TOBIAS | 1 | 32.8% | +31.6% |
| NEMER, OSAMA MOHAMMAD | 1 | 66.0% | +51.2% |
| HIGHLAND, RACHEL S | 1 | 67.2% | +35.5% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17610566 | FELT MATERIAL FOR USE IN A METHOD OF REPAIRING OR AUGMENTING HUMAN OR ANIMAL SOFT TISSUES | HIGHLAND, RACHEL S | 15d |
| 18252653 | SURGICAL DEVICE, A SYSTEM, AND A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SURGICAL DEVICE | LABRANCHE, BROOKE N | 55d |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17996227 | MEDICAL IMPLANT, MEDICAL DEVICE, SEPARATION DEVICE, FELTING DEVICE AND METHODS | SPENCER, MAXIMILIAN TOBIAS | 42d overdue |
| 17610566 | FELT MATERIAL FOR USE IN A METHOD OF REPAIRING OR AUGMENTING HUMAN OR ANIMAL SOFT TISSUES | HIGHLAND, RACHEL S | 15d |
| 18252653 | SURGICAL DEVICE, A SYSTEM, AND A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SURGICAL DEVICE | LABRANCHE, BROOKE N | 55d |
| 17636903 | IMPLANTABLE SUSPENSION DEVICE, ASSEMBLY DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ASSEMBLING AN IMPLANTABLE SUSPENSION DEVICE | NEMER, OSAMA MOHAMMAD | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3774 | 3 |
| 3771 | 2 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18252549 | MEDICAL IMPLANT, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A MEDICAL IMPLANT, MEDICAL PRODUCT, ALIGNMENT TOOL, METHOD FOR CUSTOMIZING A MEDICAL IMPLANT, AND FELTING INSTRUMENT | THOMAS, NATALIE NICOLE | 3774 | §103 | Final Rejection | 16d | Pending | May 11, 2023 |
| 18252653 | SURGICAL DEVICE, A SYSTEM, AND A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SURGICAL DEVICE | LABRANCHE, BROOKE N | 3771 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | 55d | Pending | May 11, 2023 |
| 17996227 | MEDICAL IMPLANT, MEDICAL DEVICE, SEPARATION DEVICE, FELTING DEVICE AND METHODS | SPENCER, MAXIMILIAN TOBIAS | 3774 | §103 | Final Rejection | 42d overdue | Pending | Oct 14, 2022 |
| 17636903 | IMPLANTABLE SUSPENSION DEVICE, ASSEMBLY DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ASSEMBLING AN IMPLANTABLE SUSPENSION DEVICE | NEMER, OSAMA MOHAMMAD | 3771 | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 21, 2022 |
| 17610566 | FELT MATERIAL FOR USE IN A METHOD OF REPAIRING OR AUGMENTING HUMAN OR ANIMAL SOFT TISSUES | HIGHLAND, RACHEL S | 3774 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 15d | Pending | Nov 11, 2021 |
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