Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Chemistry & Materials
6 pending office actions • 1 client • 6 examiners • 6 art units • 0 of 6 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 5 patents granted in the last 365 days
MERCHANT & GOULD - Cepheid specializes in Chemistry & Materials, with a history of 105 career applications. The firm has secured a resolved allowance rate of 86.11 percent, indicating a strong track record for this specific client engagement. Reaching allowance typically requires 3.42 average office actions per application, which is a standard pace for the chemistry sector.
There are 6 pending office actions currently active, showing a focused workload. The 86.11 percent allowance rate demonstrates that the firm effectively navigates the Chemistry & Materials landscape. With 3.42 average office actions, the prosecution timeline is well-defined for the applications managed under this profile, offering a clear benchmark for future chemical patent filings. The 6 pending actions suggest a continuing partnership, and the 105 career applications show a consistent track record of success.
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.
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 |
|---|---|
| §101 + other | 1 (17%) |
| §103 only | 3 (50%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 2 (33%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SETZER, NICHOLAS LEE | 1 | 68.2% | +41.2% |
| ABEL, LENORA A | 1 | 68.3% | +34.5% |
| KRCHA, MATTHEW D | 1 | 64.7% | +35.3% |
| WASHINGTON, BRITNEY NICOLE | 1 | 83.1% | +13.2% |
| HERBERT, MADISON TAYLOR | 1 | 59.1% | +53.7% |
| PARKIN, JEFFREY S | 1 | 63.7% | +21.7% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18309691 | NUCLEIC ACID EXTRACTION AND ISOLATION WITH HEAT LABILE SILANES AND CHEMICALLY MODIFIED SOLID SUPPORTS | WASHINGTON, BRITNEY NICOLE | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18527039 | MOTOR HAVING INTEGRATED ACTUATOR WITH ABSOLUTE ENCODER AND METHODS OF USE | SETZER, NICHOLAS LEE | 23d overdue |
| 18460266 | FAULTY UNIT DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHODS | ABEL, LENORA A | — |
| 18460253 | SEAL FAILURE DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHODS | KRCHA, MATTHEW D | — |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18527039 | MOTOR HAVING INTEGRATED ACTUATOR WITH ABSOLUTE ENCODER AND METHODS OF USE | SETZER, NICHOLAS LEE | 23d overdue |
| 17811448 | HIGH-LEVEL MULTIPLEXING REACTION VESSEL, REAGENT SPOTTING DEVICE AND ASSOCIATED METHODS | HERBERT, MADISON TAYLOR | 14d |
| 18460266 | FAULTY UNIT DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHODS | ABEL, LENORA A | — |
| 18460253 | SEAL FAILURE DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHODS | KRCHA, MATTHEW D | — |
| 18309691 | NUCLEIC ACID EXTRACTION AND ISOLATION WITH HEAT LABILE SILANES AND CHEMICALLY MODIFIED SOLID SUPPORTS | WASHINGTON, BRITNEY NICOLE | — |
| 17358523 | METHODS OF DETECTING SARS-COV-2, INFLUENZA, AND RSV | PARKIN, JEFFREY S | — |
| Client (Assignee) | Pending OAs |
|---|---|
| Cepheid | 6 |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2834 | 1 |
| 1799 | 1 |
| 1796 | 1 |
| 1797 | 1 |
| 1758 | 1 |
| 1671 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Client | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18527039 | MOTOR HAVING INTEGRATED ACTUATOR WITH ABSOLUTE ENCODER AND METHODS OF USE | Cepheid | SETZER, NICHOLAS LEE | 2834 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 23d overdue | Pending | Dec 01, 2023 |
| 18460266 | FAULTY UNIT DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHODS | Cepheid | ABEL, LENORA A | 1799 | §101§102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 01, 2023 |
| 18460253 | SEAL FAILURE DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHODS | Cepheid | KRCHA, MATTHEW D | 1796 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 01, 2023 |
| 18309691 | NUCLEIC ACID EXTRACTION AND ISOLATION WITH HEAT LABILE SILANES AND CHEMICALLY MODIFIED SOLID SUPPORTS | Cepheid | WASHINGTON, BRITNEY NICOLE | 1797 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 28, 2023 |
| 17811448 | HIGH-LEVEL MULTIPLEXING REACTION VESSEL, REAGENT SPOTTING DEVICE AND ASSOCIATED METHODS | Cepheld | HERBERT, MADISON TAYLOR | 1758 | §103 | Final Rejection | 14d | Pending | Jul 08, 2022 |
| 17358523 | METHODS OF DETECTING SARS-COV-2, INFLUENZA, AND RSV | Cepheid | PARKIN, JEFFREY S | 1671 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 25, 2021 |
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