Examiner Brooks T Hale

Grant ratio: 27.0% (2nd percentile in Art Unit 2166 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 4.06. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 27.0%
Average office actions / grant 4.06
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
96879
Primary art unit
2166
Work group
2160
Technology center
2100
Applications
122
Granted applications
33
Examiner phone
(571) 272-0160

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 23 57.3% 2.82
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 3.51 428 office actions across 122 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 122 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 21 17.2%
2 OAs 26 21.3%
3 OAs 24 19.7%
4 OAs 15 12.3%
5+ OAs 36 29.5%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2022: 20.0% 2022 2023: 52.6% 2023 2024: 21.1% 2024 2025: 47.4% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20225120.0%
2023191052.6%
202419421.1%
2025381847.4%
20264100.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 122 2.5% 4.9% 93.4% 0.0%
Action 2 101 1.0% 1.0% 98.0% 1.0%
Action 3 75 5.3% 0.0% 94.7% 0.0%
Action 4 51 3.9% 0.0% 94.1% 0.0%
Action 5 36 2.8% 0.0% 97.2% 0.0%
Action 6 18 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 7 9 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 8 7 14.3% 0.0% 71.4% 14.3%
Action 9 5 20.0% 0.0% 80.0% 0.0%
Action 10 3 33.3% 0.0% 66.7% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 4.5% 14 of 314 office actions
All years 3.3% 14 of 428 office actions
Change +1.2 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%
2024: AI examples
0.0%
2025: August memo
3.7%
18.2%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 4. Merits outcomes: 1 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 3 reversed.

Full reversal rate
75.0% 3/4 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
75.0% 3/4 decisions
Median appeal duration
6.9 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Aug. 4, 2026 18/590,348 Reversed §103
Jul. 15, 2026 18/547,717 Affirmed §101 · §103
May. 14, 2026 17/000,017 Reversed §103 · §112
Sep. 25, 2025 17/347,164 Reversed §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.

Job History

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