Examiner Nita M Minnifield

Grant ratio: 18.5% (15th percentile in Art Unit 1643 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.05. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 18.5%
Average office actions / grant 2.05
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
77581
Primary art unit
1643
Work group
1640
Technology center
1600
Applications
108
Granted applications
20
Examiner phone
(571) 272-0860
Supervisor
Julie Wu
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-5205

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 27 37.2% 1.83
Group 222 43.5% 1.94
Tech Center 1,373 38.0% 2.02
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.70 199 office actions across 117 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 117 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 72 61.5%
2 OAs 28 23.9%
3 OAs 7 6.0%
4 OAs 4 3.4%
5+ OAs 6 5.1%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 50.0% 2008 2009: 50.0% 2009 2010: 50.0% 2010 2011: 0.0% 2011 2012: 0.0% 2012 2013: 0.0% 2013 2016: 33.3% 2016 2021: 20.0% 2021 2022: 66.7% 2022 2023: 100.0% 2023 2025: 0.0% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20082150.0%
20092150.0%
20102150.0%
2011500.0%
2012200.0%
2013400.0%
20163133.3%
20215120.0%
2022211466.7%
202311100.0%
20251200.0%
20264900.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 117 1.7% 22.2% 25.6% 25.6%
Action 2 45 4.4% 17.8% 26.7% 37.8%
Action 3 17 5.9% 0.0% 47.1% 23.5%
Action 4 10 0.0% 0.0% 30.0% 50.0%
Action 5 6 0.0% 0.0% 66.7% 16.7%
Action 6 3 0.0% 0.0% 66.7% 33.3%
Action 7 1 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 100.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 2.7% 2 of 74 office actions
All years 2.5% 5 of 199 office actions
Change +0.2 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%
0.0%
0.0%
2014: Alice
0.0%
100.0%
20.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2025: August memo
0.0%
3.4%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 2. Merits outcomes: 1 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 1 reversed.

Full reversal rate
50.0% 1/2 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
50.0% 1/2 decisions
Median appeal duration
27.6 months
New grounds of rejection
1
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
May. 27, 2016 11/544,120 Reversed New ground of rejection §103
Aug. 30, 2011 10/486,187 Affirmed N/A

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.

Job History

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