Examiner Adam C Milligan

Grant ratio: 27.1% (39th percentile in Art Unit 1612 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 3.66. Most common rejection type: §103.

Potentially inactive Last office action in data: May 2026
Grant ratio 27.1%
Average office actions / grant 3.66
Compared with Art unit Very hard
Compared with Work group Very hard
Compared with Technology center Very hard
Compared with USPTO Very hard

Examiner record

Examiner ID
86352
Primary art unit
1612
Work group
1610
Technology center
1600
Applications
536
Granted applications
145

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 33 31.9% 2.35
Group 217 31.1% 2.42
Tech Center 1,373 38.0% 2.02
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 3.36 1,880 office actions across 560 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 560 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 128 22.9%
2 OAs 148 26.4%
3 OAs 82 14.6%
4 OAs 73 13.0%
5+ OAs 129 23.0%

Each application is counted once. “5+” includes all higher counts.

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2009: 20.0% 2009 2010: 14.3% 2010 2011: 25.0% 2011 2012: 42.0% 2012 2013: 20.4% 2013 2014: 31.3% 2014 2015: 32.4% 2015 2016: 31.8% 2016 2017: 23.3% 2017 2018: 18.2% 2018 2019: 20.0% 2019 2020: 34.4% 2020 2021: 36.0% 2021 2022: 16.2% 2022 2023: 30.4% 2023 2024: 40.0% 2024 2025: 0.0% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200915320.0%
201035514.3%
201132825.0%
2012502142.0%
2013491020.4%
2014321031.3%
2015341132.4%
2016441431.8%
201730723.3%
201833618.2%
201935720.0%
2020321134.4%
202125936.0%
202237616.2%
202323730.4%
2024251040.0%
2025200.0%
2026300.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 560 0.9% 1.4% 56.3% 1.4%
Action 2 432 1.4% 1.2% 62.7% 1.4%
Action 3 284 0.0% 0.0% 59.5% 0.4%
Action 4 202 0.0% 0.0% 59.9% 1.0%
Action 5 129 0.0% 0.0% 48.8% 2.3%
Action 6 90 0.0% 0.0% 47.8% 0.0%
Action 7 60 0.0% 0.0% 48.3% 0.0%
Action 8 43 0.0% 0.0% 37.2% 0.0%
Action 9 25 0.0% 0.0% 32.0% 0.0%
Action 10 19 0.0% 0.0% 31.6% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 88 office actions
All years 0.6% 11 of 1,880 office actions
Change -0.6 pts Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-08-28–2026-08-28. All years includes every dated office action in the data.

By year

0.0%
0.0%
5.0%
1.6%
1.8%
0.7%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2019: PEG
0.0%
0.8%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024: AI examples
0.0%
2025: August memo
0.0%
0.0%

Each bar is the percentage of office actions with a §101 rejection.

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 37. Merits outcomes: 15 affirmed, 2 affirmed in part, and 20 reversed.

Full reversal rate
54.1% 20/37 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
59.5% 22/37 decisions
Median appeal duration
13.9 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Sep. 9, 2025 16/441,820 Reversed §103 · §112
Aug. 5, 2025 17/170,998 Reversed §103
Mar. 29, 2024 12/866,786 Affirmed §103 · §112
Mar. 13, 2024 15/539,230 Reversed §103
Dec. 28, 2023 15/548,468 Affirmed §103
Nov. 3, 2023 15/539,748 Affirmed §103
Oct. 25, 2023 15/538,330 Reversed §103 · §112
Sep. 22, 2023 15/752,951 Reversed §103
Mar. 20, 2023 11/989,112 Reversed §103 · §112
Dec. 7, 2022 15/539,725 Affirmed §103 · §112
Jul. 19, 2022 16/780,365 Affirmed §103
May. 17, 2022 15/684,226 Reversed §103

The examiner match uses the last recorded office action before the decision. Reversal rates exclude rehearings, remands, dismissals, and other decisions that did not reach the merits. Data through Aug. 27, 2026.

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