Great baseball pitchers usually have an arsenal of different types of pitches to throw at hitters. They always want to keep the hitter guessing, and they know that each hitter has strengths and weaknesses when it comes to hitting certain types of pitches. Teams use hitter statistics of all sorts to decide on what pitches should be thrown in what situation. A pitcher would never throw the same pitch over and over and over. Even if it was the greatest pitch in the world, eventually hitters will catch on and punish the ball.

Another thing great pitchers do is read the situation. They know when the sun is in the batter’s eye, or when the batter was roughed up in a previous inning and so is moving a little slower than usual. They adapt their pitching strategy understanding not just historical data, but current trends and unique aspects of the current situation. Further, they see how a particular batter is adapting to their pitches earlier in the count.

In patent prosecution, why then would someone use the same OA response strategy for every case and every examiner? Every case has unique facts, and the law is always changing. Examiner statistics are a key data point, but Examiners are constantly receiving updated training. The only real constant is change.

Over the years, we’ve covered many different ways to address rejections on this blog and we would love to hear from our readers in terms of the different approaches that have been tried and any new or unique approaches to consider.