Examiner Linh Black

Grant ratio: 45.4% (23rd percentile in Art Unit 2163 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 3.39. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 45.4%
Average office actions / grant 3.39
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
77864
Primary art unit
2163
Work group
2160
Technology center
2100
Applications
480
Granted applications
218
Examiner phone
(571) 272-4106
Supervisor
Tony Mahmoudi
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-4078

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 20 62.7% 2.42
Group 196 60.2% 2.52
Tech Center 1,781 52.8% 2.19
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 3.61 1,732 office actions across 480 applications
Applications with office actions 99.4% 477 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 3 0.6%
1 OA 90 18.8%
2 OAs 108 22.5%
3 OAs 70 14.6%
4 OAs 73 15.2%
5+ OAs 136 28.3%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 40.0% 2008 2009: 45.7% 2009 2010: 61.5% 2010 2011: 60.0% 2011 2012: 69.4% 2012 2013: 73.1% 2013 2014: 34.4% 2014 2015: 52.0% 2015 2016: 25.0% 2016 2017: 33.3% 2017 2018: 59.1% 2018 2019: 36.7% 2019 2020: 45.5% 2020 2021: 76.5% 2021 2022: 70.0% 2022 2023: 39.1% 2023 2024: 26.7% 2024 2025: 18.5% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200820840.0%
2009351645.7%
2010392461.5%
2011251560.0%
2012362569.4%
2013261973.1%
2014321134.4%
2015251352.0%
201620525.0%
201715533.3%
2018221359.1%
2019301136.7%
2020331545.5%
2021171376.5%
202210770.0%
202323939.1%
202415426.7%
202527518.5%
20263000.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 477 0.4% 19.9% 77.1% 0.0%
Action 2 387 0.0% 14.0% 85.8% 0.0%
Action 3 279 0.4% 5.7% 91.8% 0.7%
Action 4 209 0.5% 1.9% 96.7% 0.5%
Action 5 136 2.9% 2.2% 94.9% 0.0%
Action 6 97 3.1% 2.1% 94.8% 0.0%
Action 7 61 1.6% 1.6% 96.7% 0.0%
Action 8 43 4.7% 0.0% 95.3% 0.0%
Action 9 14 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 10 9 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 5.9% 13 of 219 office actions
All years 0.8% 14 of 1,732 office actions
Change +5.1 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%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.1%
2019: PEG
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.2%
2024: AI examples
2.5%
2025: August memo
5.1%
15.8%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 44. Merits outcomes: 17 affirmed, 6 affirmed in part, and 21 reversed.

Full reversal rate
47.7% 21/44 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
61.4% 27/44 decisions
Median appeal duration
16.7 months
New grounds of rejection
3
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Nov. 14, 2025 16/937,524 Reversed §103
Aug. 22, 2025 16/265,811 Affirmed §103
Jun. 17, 2025 16/815,581 Reversed New ground of rejection §101 · §103
Jun. 12, 2025 17/097,960 Affirmed §101 · §103 · §112
Aug. 30, 2023 16/135,326 Reversed §103
Aug. 24, 2023 13/669,412 Affirmed in part §103
Aug. 1, 2023 15/345,391 Reversed §103
Aug. 3, 2022 13/853,718 Affirmed §103
Jun. 27, 2022 15/224,848 Reversed §103
Mar. 22, 2022 14/702,568 Affirmed §103
Aug. 20, 2021 12/955,486 Affirmed §103
Mar. 22, 2021 14/211,312 Reversed §101 · §103

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.

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