Examiner Zachary C Howard
Examiner Zachary C Howard appears to be very easy relative to their art unit, group, tech center, and USPTO peers. Their lifetime grant ratio is 59.6%, they average 1.90 office actions per granted patent, and their rejection profile leans toward §112 and elevated §112 usage.
Difficulty vs AU
About Average
Difficulty vs Group
Very Easy
Difficulty vs TC
Very Easy
Difficulty vs USPTO
Very Easy
Average OA / Grant
1.90
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Examiner Details
- Observed Examiner Years
- 19 years (2008-2026)
- Phone
- (571) 272-2877
- Predicted Supervisor
- N/A
- Supervisor Phone
- N/A
- Tech Center
- 1600 - Biotechnology and Organic
- Group
- 1640 - Immunology
Metrics
- Applications Evaluated
- 985
- Granted Applications
- 587
- Non-Granted Applications
- 398
- Avg OA / Grant
- 1.90
- Last OA Observed
- March 2026 (0 months ago)
Context Comparison
| Scope | Examiners | Lifetime Grant Ratio | Avg OA / Grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Examiner | 1 | 59.6% | 1.90 |
| Art Unit | 21 | 45.4% | 1.89 |
| Group | 223 | 44.8% | 1.94 |
| Tech Center | 1,349 | 39.5% | 2.02 |
| USPTO | 16,116 | 54.8% | 1.98 |
Grant Timeline
Shaded region marks the last two observed years, where grant outcomes may lag due to recency.
| Year | Applications | Granted | Grant Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| No observed data before 2008; examiner may not yet have been active in the available dataset. | |||
| 2008 | 32 | 12 | 37.5% |
| 2009 | 43 | 11 | 25.6% |
| 2010 | 49 | 19 | 38.8% |
| 2011 | 52 | 27 | 51.9% |
| 2012 | 61 | 39 | 63.9% |
| 2013 | 56 | 34 | 60.7% |
| 2014 | 50 | 29 | 58.0% |
| 2015 | 52 | 27 | 51.9% |
| 2016 | 57 | 35 | 61.4% |
| 2017 | 61 | 48 | 78.7% |
| 2018 | 59 | 42 | 71.2% |
| 2019 | 50 | 37 | 74.0% |
| 2020 | 59 | 50 | 84.7% |
| 2021 | 62 | 53 | 85.5% |
| 2022 | 39 | 21 | 53.8% |
| 2023 | 61 | 44 | 72.1% |
| 2024 | 51 | 36 | 70.6% |
| 2025 | 63 | 23 | 36.5% |
| 2026 | 28 | 0 | 0.0% |
587 family-cache-validated grants; 0 OA-only grant signals.
Rejection Timeline
| OA # | Office Actions | § 101 Percentage | § 102 Percentage | § 103 Percentage | § 112 Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 980 | 2.0% | 21.9% | 27.9% | 22.8% |
| 2 | 477 | 1.3% | 12.4% | 22.2% | 45.1% |
| 3 | 192 | 3.1% | 14.6% | 33.9% | 33.3% |
| 4 | 85 | 5.9% | 10.6% | 28.2% | 38.8% |
| 5 | 32 | 3.1% | 12.5% | 28.1% | 43.8% |
| 6 | 13 | 7.7% | 23.1% | 38.5% | 30.8% |
| 7 | 2 | 0.0% | 50.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 8 | 1 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 9 | 1 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 10 | 1 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
§ 101 Yearly Trend
2014: Alice
2019: PEG
2024: AI Examples
2025: Aug. Memo
Each bar shows the share of this examiner's observed office actions in that year that included a § 101 rejection.