Examiner Christopher A. Bartels

Grant ratio: 58.3% (12th percentile in Art Unit 2184 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.91. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 58.3%
Average office actions / grant 2.91
Compared with Art unit Very hard
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
86604
Primary art unit
2184
Work group
2180
Technology center
2100
Applications
600
Granted applications
350
Examiner phone
(571) 270-3182

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 22 67.0% 2.01
Group 178 52.5% 1.89
Tech Center 1,781 52.8% 2.19
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.85 1,708 office actions across 600 applications
Applications with office actions 99.8% 599 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 1 0.2%
1 OA 148 24.7%
2 OAs 179 29.8%
3 OAs 86 14.3%
4 OAs 99 16.5%
5+ OAs 87 14.5%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2009: 11.1% 2009 2010: 14.3% 2010 2011: 46.2% 2011 2012: 29.4% 2012 2013: 37.5% 2013 2014: 47.1% 2014 2015: 45.5% 2015 2016: 70.0% 2016 2017: 65.4% 2017 2018: 76.2% 2018 2019: 78.0% 2019 2020: 74.5% 2020 2021: 80.4% 2021 2022: 88.9% 2022 2023: 72.5% 2023 2024: 71.1% 2024 2025: 25.0% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20099111.1%
201014214.3%
201113646.2%
201217529.4%
201324937.5%
2014341647.1%
2015221045.5%
2016604270.0%
2017261765.4%
2018423276.2%
2019413278.0%
2020554174.5%
2021514180.4%
2022272488.9%
2023402972.5%
2024453271.1%
2025441125.0%
20263600.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 599 0.0% 27.7% 68.8% 0.2%
Action 2 451 0.2% 16.2% 81.8% 0.7%
Action 3 272 0.0% 8.5% 90.4% 0.4%
Action 4 186 0.0% 7.5% 91.4% 0.5%
Action 5 87 0.0% 6.9% 93.1% 0.0%
Action 6 51 0.0% 5.9% 94.1% 0.0%
Action 7 27 0.0% 18.5% 81.5% 0.0%
Action 8 16 0.0% 25.0% 75.0% 0.0%
Action 9 9 0.0% 11.1% 88.9% 0.0%
Action 10 5 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 293 office actions
All years 0.1% 1 of 1,708 office actions
Change -0.1 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%
2.3%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2019: PEG
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024: AI examples
0.0%
2025: August memo
0.0%
0.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 18. Merits outcomes: 6 affirmed, 2 affirmed in part, and 10 reversed.

Full reversal rate
55.6% 10/18 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
66.7% 12/18 decisions
Median appeal duration
22.1 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Apr. 7, 2026 17/928,491 Reversed §103
Jan. 6, 2026 17/888,589 Reversed §103
Apr. 27, 2023 15/931,825 Affirmed §102
Aug. 31, 2018 14/032,382 Reversed §102
Feb. 27, 2017 12/475,916 Reversed §102 · §103
Feb. 16, 2017 12/642,544 Reversed §101 · §103
Feb. 7, 2017 12/260,061 Affirmed §102 · §103
Jan. 30, 2017 13/545,833 Reversed §102 · §103
Nov. 9, 2016 12/328,381 Affirmed in part §102 · §112
Sep. 23, 2016 13/285,833 Affirmed in part §102 · §103 · §112
Dec. 17, 2015 11/873,606 Reversed N/A
Nov. 16, 2015 12/204,119 Reversed N/A

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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