Examiner Aurora M. Fontainhas

Grant ratio: 31.8% (17th percentile in Art Unit 1649 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.26. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: October 2026
Grant ratio 31.8%
Average office actions / grant 2.26
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
89126
Primary art unit
1649
Work group
1640
Technology center
1600
Applications
541
Granted applications
172
Examiner phone
(571) 272-2952

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 16 41.0% 2.12
Group 221 43.1% 1.95
Tech Center 1,383 37.4% 2.02
USPTO 16,620 51.8% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.61 1,414 office actions across 541 applications
Applications with office actions 99.6% 539 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 2 0.4%
1 OA 191 35.3%
2 OAs 141 26.1%
3 OAs 74 13.7%
4 OAs 59 10.9%
5+ OAs 74 13.7%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2009: 100.0% 2009 2010: 100.0% 2010 2012: 62.5% 2012 2013: 46.9% 2013 2014: 30.0% 2014 2015: 37.9% 2015 2016: 46.5% 2016 2017: 26.7% 2017 2018: 28.9% 2018 2019: 33.3% 2019 2020: 25.6% 2020 2021: 54.8% 2021 2022: 39.5% 2022 2023: 40.5% 2023 2024: 25.0% 2024 2025: 9.5% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200911100.0%
201022100.0%
20128562.5%
2013321546.9%
201430930.0%
2015291137.9%
2016432046.5%
201730826.7%
2018381128.9%
2019391333.3%
2020391025.6%
2021422354.8%
2022381539.5%
2023421740.5%
202432825.0%
20254249.5%
20265400.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 539 2.0% 13.5% 35.1% 8.3%
Action 2 348 4.9% 10.1% 46.6% 10.3%
Action 3 207 3.9% 9.2% 56.0% 7.7%
Action 4 133 5.3% 6.0% 53.4% 5.3%
Action 5 74 5.4% 6.8% 54.1% 4.1%
Action 6 50 4.0% 8.0% 54.0% 0.0%
Action 7 29 3.4% 10.3% 48.3% 0.0%
Action 8 17 5.9% 0.0% 64.7% 0.0%
Action 9 7 14.3% 0.0% 57.1% 0.0%
Action 10 3 0.0% 0.0% 66.7% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 5.3% 14 of 265 office actions
All years 3.7% 53 of 1,414 office actions
Change +1.5 pts Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-10-23–2026-10-23. 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
3.9%
2.8%
2.6%
6.8%
7.2%
2019: PEG
3.4%
1.0%
5.6%
3.5%
2.2%
2024: AI examples
5.6%
2025: August memo
4.4%
7.5%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 16. Merits outcomes: 8 affirmed, 2 affirmed in part, and 6 reversed.

Full reversal rate
37.5% 6/16 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
50.0% 8/16 decisions
Median appeal duration
10.8 months
New grounds of rejection
1
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Oct. 29, 2026 18/636,216 Reversed N/A
Sep. 22, 2026 16/614,637 Affirmed §103
Sep. 27, 2024 16/992,631 Affirmed §101 · §103
Jul. 1, 2024 14/401,428 Affirmed in part §102 · §103
May. 31, 2024 16/317,454 Affirmed §103
Oct. 26, 2023 14/346,626 Affirmed New ground of rejection §103
Jun. 17, 2022 13/186,017 Affirmed §101 · §103 · §112
Mar. 24, 2022 14/600,564 Affirmed §103
Sep. 27, 2021 15/436,919 Reversed §103
May. 21, 2021 15/834,491 Reversed §103
May. 20, 2021 16/013,552 Reversed §103
Sep. 21, 2020 14/531,472 Affirmed in part §101 · §103 · §112

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 Oct. 30, 2026.

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