Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 25, 2026

Hovey Williams LLP

Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems

162 pending office actions • 69 clients • 143 examiners • 106 art units • 0 of 162 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready

Analysis

Hovey Williams LLP has 162 pending office actions in Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems and 9362 career applications. Its resolved allowance rate is 85.1%, and the average is 2.85 office actions per allowance.

The application volume gives the historical measures substantial context. The resolved allowance rate indicates the outcome record, while the office-action average describes the examination effort associated with allowances. The current pending docket is also sizable, making workload allocation and response prioritization important practical considerations for the practice.

Written from this page's own data; every figure is computed from USPTO records and verified before publication.

Quality Metrics (n=9362 apps, methodology: how we score firms)

85.1%
Allowance Rate
n=9362
+0.65σ
Allowance Rate (norm)
n=9362
2.8
OAs to Allowance
n=5622
-0.38σ
OAs to Allow (norm)
n=5622
981 days
Time to Allowance
n=5622
+8.0pp
Interview Lift
n=9362
20.1%
RCE Rate
n=9362
3.0%
Appeal Rate
n=9362

Rejection Performance (% of received rejections ultimately overcome)

68.4%
§101 Overcome
n=678
80.3%
§102 Overcome
n=2206
80.2%
§103 Overcome
n=3707
81.3%
§112 Overcome
n=2315

Specialization & Scale

G06Q, Y10T, A61K
Top CPC Subclasses
9%
Top-3 CPC Share
n=9362
16
Practitioners
n=9362
585.1
Apps / Practitioner
n=9362

Portfolio Summary

162
Total Pending OAs
107
Non-Final OAs
48
Final Rejections
7
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 42 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

18
Overdue
0
Due this week
14
Due this month
9
Due in next 60 days
1
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. 42 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (18)Due ≤ 30 days (14)Due ≤ 60 days (9)Due later (1)

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.

98
Hard (60%)
52
Medium (32%)
12
Easy (7%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 only15 (9%)
§101 + other18 (11%)
§103 only41 (25%)
§102 only4 (2%)
§112 only9 (6%)
Double-patenting only3 (2%)
Double-patenting + other7 (4%)
Multi-statute (no §101)65 (40%)

Industry Mix

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

59
Life Sciences
36% of docket
14
Information Tech
9% of docket
1
Communications
1% of docket
17
Semiconductors
10% of docket
71
Mechanical / Eng
44% of docket
0
Business / Other
0% 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.

1,620 h
Manual time on pending OAs
324 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
567 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
14.2 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
GREGG, MARY M 6 14.0% +14.2%
DARLING, DEVIN MITCHELL 5 61.0% +20.9%
CHEN, SHELLEY 3 66.2% +20.4%
GERTH, KATIE L 2 75.8% +16.6%
SMITH, JACOB A 2 82.3% +16.9%
WILCOX, JAMES J 2 70.0% +61.4%
YONO, RAVEN E 2 38.9% +33.6%
CROSBY JR, RICHARD D 2 69.3% +15.0%
SCHWARTZ, CHRISTOPHER P 2 85.5% +6.2%
TRAN, UYEN M 2 31.2% +39.5%

Hard Cases (98)

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
18355971 COMPLIANT ROLLER CUTTER PRONE, JASON D 163d overdue
18411971 MANDIBULAR ADVANCEMENT DEVICE MILLER, DANIEL A 155d overdue
18832812 METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DIFFERENTIAL HEIGHT MODIFICATION OF THE SURFACE OF THE TRAFFIC AREA STRYKER, NICHOLAS F 127d overdue
18147889 SELF-ADJUSTING ANTI-SCALP SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR WHEELED LAWN CARE MACHINE TORRES, ALICIA M 38d overdue
19101473 SUBSTRATE STRUCTURE FOR A TANK FOR CRUSTACEANS SCHMID, BROOK VICTORIA 36d overdue
18804315 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GUARDING AND COMPOUNDING MATERIAL WITH TWO ROLL MILL CROSBY JR, RICHARD D 30d overdue
17416936 CYCLIN-DEPENDENT KINASE INHIBITORS MOORE, SUSANNA 30d overdue
19034553 DETERMINING HEALTH OF WORDLINES FOR CONTINUED USER DATA PROGRAMMING DUDEK JR, EDWARD J 17d overdue

Interview Candidates (26)

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
18489618 AUTONOMOUS AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM CHEN, SHELLEY 38d overdue
18804315 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GUARDING AND COMPOUNDING MATERIAL WITH TWO ROLL MILL CROSBY JR, RICHARD D 30d overdue
18472033 COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PAYMENT ROUTING GREGG, MARY M 5d overdue
18472028 COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PAYMENT ROUTING GREGG, MARY M 12d
18472039 COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PAYMENT ROUTING GREGG, MARY M 22d
18145627 COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PAYMENT ROUTING GREGG, MARY M 26d
18256250 POLYOLEFIN COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING RECYCLED POLYOLEFIN DARLING, DEVIN MITCHELL 53d
18678843 SOLAR CELL AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING A SOLAR CELL TRAN, UYEN M 54d

Client Portfolio (69 clients)

View all 69 →

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
17646
36956
37315
37245
36945
17265
36654
21393
36713
28583

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleClientExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
19633161 FC FUSION PROTEIN THERAPEUTICS FOR COMPANION ANIMAL OBESITY AND METHODS OF USE Akston Biosciences Corporation EMCH, GREGORY S 1678 §103DP Non-Final OA — Pending Mar 30, 2026
19545822 ENERGY STORAGE SUPPORT SYSTEM WITH PASSIVE MECHANICAL EXCITATION ATTENUATION BARRIER Svb Technologies, Inc. SONG, KEVIN 1728 §102 Final Rejection — Pending Feb 20, 2026
19443907 METHOD AND SYSTEMS FOR BLOCKING MULTI-RAIL CONTACTLESS FRAUD Mastercard International Incorporated QAYYUM, ZESHAN 3697 §101 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 08, 2026
19286368 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATION AND PAYMENT WHILE WEARING A FACE COVERING Mastercard International Incorporated CHISM, STEVEN R 3692 §101§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jul 31, 2025
19135180 PRINTING ASSEMBLY, PRINTING METHOD AND MATERIAL WEB BHS Corrugated Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH GERTH, KATIE L 3731 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 03, 2025
19224033 PASS THROUGH VOLTAGE ADJUSTMENT TO COMPENSATE FOR CROSS-TEMPERATURE EFFECTS Microchip Technology Inc. PAPERNO, NICHOLAS A 2132 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 30, 2025
19224032 VOLTAGE ADJUSTMENT BASED ON MEMORY DEVICE TEMPERATURE PROFILING Microchip Technology Inc. KORTMAN, CURTIS JAMES 2139 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 30, 2025
19217506 PHOTONIC DEBONDING FOR WAFER-LEVEL PACKAGING APPLICATIONS Brewer Science, Inc. HARM, NICKOLAS R 1745 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 23, 2025
19213473 TOOL FOR DELIVERY OF REMEMBRANCES TO RECIPIENTS POSTHUMOUSLY Open When LLC CLARE, MARK C 3628 §101§103 Final Rejection — Pending May 20, 2025
19208251 METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SMART IDENTIFICATION AND STEP-UP AUTHENTICATION Mastercard International Incorporated CHANG, KENNETH W 2438 DP Non-Final OA — Pending May 14, 2025
19208041 SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONSENT MANAGEMENT BY ISSUERS ON BEHALF OF CARDHOLDERS Mastercard International Incorporated SHERR, MARIA CRISTI OWEN 3697 §101§103 Final Rejection — Pending May 14, 2025
19206710 HYBRID DRYING SYSTEM Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC BANKS, KEONA LAUREN 3763 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending May 13, 2025
19196856 ALIGNMENT GUIDE FOR AN ALIGNMENT SYSTEM OF A MOBILE IRRIGATION SYSTEM Lindsay Corporation BOECKMANN, JASON J 3752 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending May 02, 2025
19191071 FRONT-FOLDING TOOLBAR Agsynergy, LLC MITCHELL, JOEL F 3671 §102§103§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 28, 2025
19123003 METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING ANOMALIES AND THUS ALSO ACTUAL MACHINING POSITIONS OF A WEB AND FOR CLASSIFYING SAID ANOMALIES, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER PROGRAMME PRODUCT BHS Corrugated Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH NGUYEN, SANG H 2877 §101§102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 21, 2025
19175129 HIGH PRESSURE MIXING HEAD FOR CONTINUOUSLY PRODUCING POLYMERIC FOAM Afros S.p.A. NICOLAS, FREDERICK C 3754 §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 10, 2025
19171742 BIOMASS FEEDSTOCK RECOVERY EQUIPMENT AND PROCESSES Clayton County Recycling, Inc. NGUYEN, BAO-THIEU L 3732 §102§103DP Final Rejection — Pending Apr 07, 2025
19117301 GRENADE LAUNCHER HAVING A BARREL WHICH IS ARRANGED SLIDABLY RELATIVE TO A TRIGGER MECHANISM BASE Ceska Zbrojovka A.S. TILLMAN, JR, REGINALD S 3641 §102 Non-Final OA — Pending Mar 31, 2025
19067601 PLANE TRANSITIONING AT A GLOBAL SWITCH BOX Microsemi Soc Corp. KIM, SEOKJIN 2845 §101§102§103 Final Rejection — Pending Feb 28, 2025
19064070 SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CLAIMING, VERIFYING, RECORDING, AND ENFORCING DIGITAL AIR RIGHTS Digital Air Rights Inc. RAHIM, MONJUR 2436 §101§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Feb 26, 2025
19056517 SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING VIA A PARALLEL SESSION PAYMENT TRANSACTION Mastercard International Incorporated JONES, COURTNEY PATRICE 3699 DP Non-Final OA — Pending Feb 18, 2025
19054641 BATTERY WITH INTEGRATED SHOCK AND VIBRATION BARRIER AND INTEGRATED ANTI-THEFT MECHANISM Project-X18, Inc. KOROVINA, ANNA 1725 §102§103§112 Final Rejection — Pending Feb 14, 2025
19101664 CORRUGATED CARDBOARD PRODUCTION UNIT AND METHOD FOR MONITORING A CORRUGATED CARDBOARD PRODUCTION UNIT BHS Corrugated Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH SMITH, JACOB A 3731 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Feb 06, 2025
19101473 SUBSTRATE STRUCTURE FOR A TANK FOR CRUSTACEANS Lagosta SA SCHMID, BROOK VICTORIA 3642 §102§103§112 Final Rejection 36d overdue Pending Feb 05, 2025
19042198 COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR AUTHENTIC USER-MERCHANT ASSOCIATION AND SERVICES Mastercard International Incorporated WILCOX, JAMES J 2439 §103Other Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 31, 2025
19042241 COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR AUTHENTIC USER-MERCHANT ASSOCIATION AND SERVICES Mastercard International Incorporated WILCOX, JAMES J 2439 §103Other Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 31, 2025
19040720 A SYSTEM FIRMWARE ALGORITHM TO REDUCE READ ERRORS IN CASES OF CROSS-TEMPERATURE USING BACKGROUND DUMMY READ OPERATIONS Microchip Technology Inc. PINGA, JASON MICHAEL 2137 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 29, 2025
19037000 ROTARY KNIFE DEFLECTOR FOR DIRECTING TRIMMINGS Hantover, Inc. MICHALSKI, SEAN M 3724 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 24, 2025
18998422 METHOD FOR OPERATING A CORRUGATOR, CORRUGATOR, COMPUTER PROGRAMME PRODUCT, AND PAPER ROLL BHS Corrugated Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH IMAM, TANZIM 3731 §102§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 24, 2025
19034553 DETERMINING HEALTH OF WORDLINES FOR CONTINUED USER DATA PROGRAMMING Microchip Technology Inc. DUDEK JR, EDWARD J 2132 §102§103 Final Rejection 17d overdue Pending Jan 22, 2025
19021154 PROGRAMMING DUMMY DATA OR PERFORMING FLASH WRITE ON PARTIALLY PROGRAMMED MEMORY BLOCKS OF VIRTUAL BLOCKS Microchip Technology Inc. BRASWELL, DONALD H.B. 2825 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 14, 2025
19017648 REFINED HARD BIT READ VOLTAGES Microchip Technology Inc. NGUYEN, STEVE N 2111 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 11, 2025
19015927 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSISTING VISUALLY IMPAIRED USER TO LOCATE PAYMENT TERMINAL Mastercard International Incorporated GOYEA, OLUSEGUN 3627 §101§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 10, 2025
19002635 GENERATING A LOGICAL TO PHYSICAL DATA STRUCTURE STORED BY A HOST DEVICE Microchip Technology Inc. LOONAN, ERIC T 2137 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 26, 2024
18989673 SCRATCH DEPTH COMPARATOR, ASSEMBLY, AND METHOD OF MAKING A SCRATCH DEPTH COMPARATOR Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC GUADALUPE, YARITZA 2855 §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 20, 2024
18984995 PROGRAM ERROR HANDLING AT A STORAGE DEVICE Microchip Technology Inc. ALROBAIE, KHAMDAN N 2824 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 17, 2024
18875563 ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD BHS Corrugated Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH SMITH, JACOB A 3731 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 16, 2024
18967246 NAMESPACE DATA SEGREGATION IN A MULTI-NAMESPACE MEMORY DEVICE Microchip Technology Inc. VERDERAMO III, RALPH A 2139 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 03, 2024
18959761 ECOMMERCE POINT-OF-SALE TRANSACTION FOR OFFLINE TRANSACTIONS Mastercard International Incorporated MILEF, ELDA G 3694 §101 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 26, 2024
18952690 SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ELECTRICAL ENERGY-BASED TRANSACTIONS Mastercard International Incorporated HARRINGTON, MICHAEL P 3628 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 19, 2024
18948620 MICRO EXTENSION SPRING INSPECTION DEVICE Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC HAMMOND III, THOMAS M 2855 §102§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 15, 2024
18947214 SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSACTION PRE-AUTHENTICATION Mastercard International Incorporated YONO, RAVEN E 3694 §101 Final Rejection — Pending Nov 14, 2024
18941254 HYDRAULIC MECHANICAL RAMP FOR RAIL CART Total Truck & Machine LLC MOSCOSO, JUAN SALVADOR 3652 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 08, 2024
18940307 A COMPOSITE BEAM 5B Ip Holdings Pty Ltd. MAESTRI, PATRICK J 3635 §102§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 07, 2024
18936166 MEMORY CELL INCLUDING A READ CIRCUIT Microsemi Soc Corp. TANG, ANTHONY THINH 2827 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 04, 2024
18929708 QUICK INSTALLATION PRESSING BLOCK Trina Solar Co., Ltd. GARFT, CHRISTOPHER 3632 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA 29d Pending Oct 29, 2024
18860868 CORRALLING AMPHIPATHIC PEPTIDE COLLOIDS Kansas State University Research Foundation BAZARGANI, ARYA AHMADI 1613 §102§103§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 28, 2024
18922276 FLEXIBLE INTERMEDIATE BULK CONTAINER WITH COLLECTION SKIRT Andax Industries LLC GERTH, KATIE L 3731 §103Other Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 21, 2024
18916269 SECURITY DEVICE WITH MAGNET ARRAY Magnasphere Corporation ROJAS, BERNARD 2837 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 15, 2024
18913447 ROTARY KNIFE BLADE WITH SEGMENTED RACE Hantover, Inc. NGUYEN, PHONG H 3724 §102§103§112 Final Rejection — Pending Oct 11, 2024

View all 162 →

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Hovey Williams LLP's patent allowance rate?

85.1% of resolved applications prosecuted by Hovey Williams LLP were allowed, across 9,362 applications in USPTO records.

How many office actions does Hovey Williams LLP average before allowance?

2.85 office actions per allowed application on average.

How many pending office actions does Hovey Williams LLP have?

162 pending office actions as of October 2026, for 69 clients, before 143 examiners in 106 art units.

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