Examiner Alicia L. Otton

Grant ratio: 60.3% (35th percentile in Art Unit 1626 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.99. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 60.3%
Average office actions / grant 1.99
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center Very easy
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
86484
Primary art unit
1626
Work group
1620
Technology center
1600
Applications
1,321
Granted applications
796
Examiner phone
(571) 270-7683
Supervisor
Mr. Joseph Mckane
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-0699

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 31 56.4% 1.65
Group 252 46.0% 1.76
Tech Center 1,373 38.0% 2.02
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.95 2,574 office actions across 1,321 applications
Applications with office actions 99.8% 1,319 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 2 0.2%
1 OA 611 46.3%
2 OAs 421 31.9%
3 OAs 157 11.9%
4 OAs 73 5.5%
5+ OAs 57 4.3%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 100.0% 2008 2009: 50.8% 2009 2010: 56.4% 2010 2011: 59.0% 2011 2012: 63.2% 2012 2013: 61.1% 2013 2014: 67.3% 2014 2015: 59.5% 2015 2016: 65.4% 2016 2017: 62.7% 2017 2018: 70.3% 2018 2019: 72.3% 2019 2020: 71.1% 2020 2021: 80.8% 2021 2022: 68.6% 2022 2023: 67.2% 2023 2024: 60.8% 2024 2025: 32.8% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200811100.0%
2009633250.8%
2010784456.4%
2011834959.0%
2012875563.2%
20131086661.1%
20141016867.3%
2015744459.5%
2016815365.4%
2017754762.7%
2018745270.3%
2019836072.3%
2020765471.1%
2021524280.8%
2022513568.6%
2023644367.2%
2024513160.8%
2025612032.8%
20265800.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 1,319 0.7% 22.1% 28.8% 13.6%
Action 2 708 0.4% 25.7% 35.6% 16.2%
Action 3 287 0.0% 25.4% 42.9% 12.5%
Action 4 130 0.0% 26.2% 46.9% 12.3%
Action 5 57 0.0% 28.1% 56.1% 8.8%
Action 6 32 0.0% 37.5% 43.8% 12.5%
Action 7 19 0.0% 26.3% 52.6% 21.1%
Action 8 7 0.0% 28.6% 57.1% 14.3%
Action 9 5 0.0% 40.0% 60.0% 0.0%
Action 10 5 0.0% 40.0% 60.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 298 office actions
All years 0.5% 12 of 2,574 office actions
Change -0.5 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%
0.0%
0.0%
1.5%
1.6%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.7%
0.7%
0.0%
2019: PEG
0.0%
1.8%
0.0%
1.0%
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: 8. Merits outcomes: 7 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 1 reversed.

Full reversal rate
12.5% 1/8 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
12.5% 1/8 decisions
Median appeal duration
14.2 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Dec. 12, 2025 16/610,312 Affirmed §103
Aug. 26, 2020 15/340,538 Affirmed §101 · §112
May. 29, 2018 13/396,805 Affirmed §103 · §112
Dec. 27, 2017 14/310,619 Affirmed §112
Mar. 29, 2017 12/518,208 Affirmed §103
Jan. 10, 2017 13/128,278 Reversed N/A
Dec. 14, 2016 13/039,105 Affirmed §103
May. 31, 2016 12/814,536 Affirmed §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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