Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 06, 2026

K&L Gates LLP - Pittsburgh

8 pending office actions • 4 clients • 8 examiners • 6 art units • 0 of 8 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 6 patents granted in the last 365 days

Quality Metrics (n=34052 apps, methodology: how we score firms)

84.7%
Allowance Rate
n=34052
+0.65σ
Allowance Rate (norm)
n=34052
3.8
OAs to Allowance
n=20482
+0.04σ
OAs to Allow (norm)
n=20482
1083 days
Time to Allowance
n=20482
+8.9pp
Interview Lift
n=34052
32.7%
RCE Rate
n=34052
2.8%
Appeal Rate
n=34052

Rejection Performance (% of received rejections ultimately overcome)

76.3%
§101 Overcome
n=2410
77.8%
§102 Overcome
n=8886
78.3%
§103 Overcome
n=15071
78.6%
§112 Overcome
n=10307

Specialization & Scale

A61K, G06F, H01M
Top CPC Subclasses
13%
Top-3 CPC Share
n=34052
88
Practitioners
n=34052
387.0
Apps / Practitioner
n=34052

Portfolio Summary

8
Total Pending OAs
5
Non-Final OAs
3
Final Rejections
0
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

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

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.

2
Hard (25%)
6
Medium (75%)
0
Easy (0%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§103 only5 (62%)
§102 only1 (12%)
Multi-statute (no §101)2 (25%)

Industry Mix

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

2
Life Sciences
25% of docket
1
Information Tech
12% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
3
Semiconductors
38% of docket
0
Mechanical / Eng
0% of docket
2
Business / Other
25% 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.

80 h
Manual time on pending OAs
16 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
28 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
0.7 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
ALEXANDER, WILLIAM R 1 88.0% +7.0%
HARRISTON, WILLIAM A 1 89.5% +8.3%
COOK, BRIAN S 1 61.9% +29.3%
ZOU, NIANXIANG 1 64.0% +24.4%
OTERO, KENNETH MAX 1 50.0% +33.3%
DEAN, RAY ALEXANDER 1 79.0% +16.2%
CHAN, CANDICE 1 72.7% +19.2%
BRACERO, ANDREW ANGEL 1 90.0% +33.3%

Quick Wins (3)

Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
17663031 METHOD FOR NEURAL SIGNALS STABILIZATION BRACERO, ANDREW ANGEL 6d
18977073 PHASE CHANGE MIRRORS ALEXANDER, WILLIAM R
18660342 RECESSED-GATE HIGH-ELECTRON-MOBILITY TRANSISTORS WITH DOPED BARRIERS AND ROUND GATE FOOT CORNERS HARRISTON, WILLIAM A

Hard Cases (2)

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 #TitleExaminerDue in
18256844 ASSAYS FOR RAPID DETECTION OF AIRBORNE VIRUSES INCLUDING INFLUENZA AND CORONAVIRUSES ZOU, NIANXIANG 14d
18130838 HIGH LINEARITY FET WITH BURIED GATE STRUCTURES AND TAPERED CHANNEL LAYER CHAN, CANDICE

Interview Candidates (6)

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 6 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
17663031 METHOD FOR NEURAL SIGNALS STABILIZATION BRACERO, ANDREW ANGEL 6d
18256844 ASSAYS FOR RAPID DETECTION OF AIRBORNE VIRUSES INCLUDING INFLUENZA AND CORONAVIRUSES ZOU, NIANXIANG 14d
18532202 SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FORMING AND DISPLAYING AN ANALYTE LOCATION MAP COOK, BRIAN S
18322845 VESSEL FOR A FUEL CELL, A FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND A METHOD FOR MAINTAINING A NON-EXPLOSIVE ATMOSPHERE IN A VESSEL FOR A FUEL CELL OTERO, KENNETH MAX
18319637 GRADIENT-INDEX FREEFORM HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY AND HEAD-UP DISPLAY DEAN, RAY ALEXANDER
18130838 HIGH LINEARITY FET WITH BURIED GATE STRUCTURES AND TAPERED CHANNEL LAYER CHAN, CANDICE

Client Portfolio (4 clients)

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
28841
16711
17251
28721
28131
21261

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleClientExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
18977073 PHASE CHANGE MIRRORS Teledyne Scientific & Imaging, LLC ALEXANDER, WILLIAM R §102 Non-Final OA Pending Dec 11, 2024
18660342 RECESSED-GATE HIGH-ELECTRON-MOBILITY TRANSISTORS WITH DOPED BARRIERS AND ROUND GATE FOOT CORNERS Teledyne Scientific & Imaging, LLC HARRISTON, WILLIAM A §103 Non-Final OA Pending May 10, 2024
18532202 SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FORMING AND DISPLAYING AN ANALYTE LOCATION MAP Teledyne Flir Defense, Inc. COOK, BRIAN S 2884 §103 Non-Final OA Pending Dec 07, 2023
18256844 ASSAYS FOR RAPID DETECTION OF AIRBORNE VIRUSES INCLUDING INFLUENZA AND CORONAVIRUSES Teledyne Flir Defense, Inc. ZOU, NIANXIANG 1671 §103§112 Non-Final OA 14d Pending Jun 09, 2023
18322845 VESSEL FOR A FUEL CELL, A FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND A METHOD FOR MAINTAINING A NON-EXPLOSIVE ATMOSPHERE IN A VESSEL FOR A FUEL CELL Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc. OTERO, KENNETH MAX 1725 §103 Non-Final OA Pending May 24, 2023
18319637 GRADIENT-INDEX FREEFORM HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY AND HEAD-UP DISPLAY Qioptiq Limited DEAN, RAY ALEXANDER 2872 §103 Final Rejection Pending May 18, 2023
18130838 HIGH LINEARITY FET WITH BURIED GATE STRUCTURES AND TAPERED CHANNEL LAYER Teledyne Scientific & Imaging, LLC CHAN, CANDICE 2813 §103§112 Final Rejection Pending Apr 04, 2023
17663031 METHOD FOR NEURAL SIGNALS STABILIZATION Teledyne Scientific & Imaging, LLC BRACERO, ANDREW ANGEL 2126 §103 Final Rejection 6d Pending May 12, 2022

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