Examiner Thomas S. Heard
Examiner Thomas S. Heard appears to be very easy relative to their art unit, group, tech center, and USPTO peers. Their lifetime grant ratio is 63.6%, they average 1.96 office actions per granted patent, and their rejection profile is dominated by ยง102.
Difficulty vs AU
About Average
Difficulty vs Group
Very Easy
Difficulty vs TC
Very Easy
Difficulty vs USPTO
Very Easy
Average OA / Grant
1.96
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Examiner Details
- Observed Examiner Years
- 18 years (2008-2025)
- Tech Center
- 1600 - Biotechnology and Organic
- Group
- 1650 - Enzymology, Microbiology, and Fermentation
Metrics
- Applications Evaluated
- 929
- Granted Applications
- 591
- Non-Granted Applications
- 338
- Avg OA / Grant
- 1.96
- Last OA Observed
- April 2025 (12 months ago)
Context Comparison
| Scope | Examiners | Lifetime Grant Ratio | Avg OA / Grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Examiner | 1 | 63.6% | 1.96 |
| Art Unit | 25 | 47.8% | 1.83 |
| Group | 207 | 41.1% | 2.01 |
| 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 | 29 | 14 | 48.3% |
| 2009 | 45 | 30 | 66.7% |
| 2010 | 39 | 22 | 56.4% |
| 2011 | 58 | 28 | 48.3% |
| 2012 | 73 | 46 | 63.0% |
| 2013 | 64 | 47 | 73.4% |
| 2014 | 63 | 37 | 58.7% |
| 2015 | 59 | 37 | 62.7% |
| 2016 | 61 | 36 | 59.0% |
| 2017 | 58 | 31 | 53.4% |
| 2018 | 62 | 47 | 75.8% |
| 2019 | 53 | 31 | 58.5% |
| 2020 | 61 | 42 | 68.9% |
| 2021 | 53 | 43 | 81.1% |
| 2022 | 45 | 35 | 77.8% |
| 2023 | 55 | 36 | 65.5% |
| 2024 | 38 | 20 | 52.6% |
| 2025 | 13 | 9 | 69.2% |
| No observed data after 2025; examiner may have gone inactive or moved out of examining work. | |||
591 family-cache-validated grants; 0 OA-only grant signals.
Rejection Timeline
| OA # | Office Actions | § 101 Percentage | § 102 Percentage | § 103 Percentage | § 112 Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 955 | 0.0% | 98.8% | 0.6% | 0.3% |
| 2 | 498 | 0.0% | 98.0% | 1.2% | 0.4% |
| 3 | 242 | 0.0% | 97.5% | 2.1% | 0.0% |
| 4 | 138 | 0.0% | 97.8% | 2.2% | 0.0% |
| 5 | 78 | 0.0% | 94.9% | 5.1% | 0.0% |
| 6 | 45 | 0.0% | 97.8% | 2.2% | 0.0% |
| 7 | 22 | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 8 | 14 | 0.0% | 92.9% | 7.1% | 0.0% |
| 9 | 9 | 0.0% | 88.9% | 11.1% | 0.0% |
| 10 | 7 | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |