Examiner Sheridan Swope

Grant ratio: 47.8% (36th percentile in Art Unit 1652 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.21. Most common rejection type: §112.

Appears inactive Last office action in data: October 2022
Grant ratio 47.8%
Average office actions / grant 2.21
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO Very hard

Examiner record

Examiner ID
79280
Primary art unit
1652
Work group
1650
Technology center
1600
Applications
586
Granted applications
280

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 24 43.9% 1.73
Group 209 40.0% 2.00
Tech Center 1,380 37.5% 2.02
USPTO 16,572 52.1% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.31 1,384 office actions across 600 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 600 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 225 37.5%
2 OAs 181 30.2%
3 OAs 92 15.3%
4 OAs 49 8.2%
5+ OAs 53 8.8%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 22.2% 2008 2009: 43.4% 2009 2010: 50.0% 2010 2011: 20.0% 2011 2012: 59.3% 2012 2013: 50.0% 2013 2014: 47.9% 2014 2015: 31.0% 2015 2016: 48.6% 2016 2017: 23.5% 2017 2018: 51.2% 2018 2019: 55.3% 2019 2020: 80.6% 2020 2021: 54.1% 2021 2022: 70.4% 2022

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200827622.2%
2009532343.4%
2010361850.0%
201125520.0%
2012543259.3%
2013542750.0%
2014482347.9%
2015421331.0%
2016371848.6%
201734823.5%
2018432251.2%
2019382155.3%
2020312580.6%
2021372054.1%
2022271970.4%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 600 0.8% 10.3% 22.5% 62.5%
Action 2 375 1.9% 12.3% 24.5% 57.9%
Action 3 194 2.1% 10.8% 30.4% 50.0%
Action 4 102 2.0% 8.8% 32.4% 53.9%
Action 5 53 1.9% 11.3% 34.0% 47.2%
Action 6 32 6.3% 6.3% 40.6% 34.4%
Action 7 11 0.0% 18.2% 27.3% 36.4%
Action 8 8 12.5% 12.5% 12.5% 62.5%
Action 9 6 16.7% 0.0% 16.7% 50.0%
Action 10 2 0.0% 0.0% 50.0% 50.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years N/A 0 of 0 office actions
All years 1.7% 23 of 1,384 office actions
Change N/A Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-10-02–2026-10-02. All years includes every dated office action in the data.

By year

5.6%
1.7%
2.9%
1.3%
0.0%
0.8%
2014: Alice
1.8%
1.0%
0.9%
1.0%
6.0%
2019: PEG
1.2%
2.5%
0.0%
0.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 9. Merits outcomes: 1 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 7 reversed.

Full reversal rate
77.8% 7/9 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
88.9% 8/9 decisions
Median appeal duration
17.7 months
New grounds of rejection
1
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Aug. 28, 2019 14/153,383 Reversed §103
Jun. 13, 2018 13/212,486 Affirmed §103
Feb. 9, 2018 12/710,087 Reversed §103
Oct. 24, 2016 10/573,821 Reversed §103
Sep. 7, 2016 13/202,696 Affirmed in part §103 · §112
Jun. 20, 2016 12/464,367 Reversed New ground of rejection §103 · §112 · §120
Apr. 25, 2013 10/553,869 Reversed §103
Oct. 13, 2011 10/340,288 Reversed §103
Jun. 9, 2011 10/487,934 Reversed §101 · §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. 9, 2026.

Job History

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