Examiner Mark D. Featherstone

Grant ratio: 53.1% (28th percentile in Art Unit 2423 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.57. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: July 2026
Grant ratio 53.1%
Average office actions / grant 2.57
Compared with Art unit Very easy
Compared with Work group Very easy
Compared with Technology center Very hard
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
84606
Primary art unit
2423
Work group
2420
Technology center
2400
Applications
277
Granted applications
147
Examiner phone
(571) 270-3750
Supervisor
John Cottingham
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-1400

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 18 50.2% 2.84
Group 130 52.7% 2.61
Tech Center 1,754 58.4% 2.14
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.36 654 office actions across 277 applications
Applications with office actions 99.3% 275 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 2 0.7%
1 OA 79 28.5%
2 OAs 102 36.8%
3 OAs 46 16.6%
4 OAs 27 9.7%
5+ OAs 21 7.6%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2007: 0.0% 2007 2008: 13.8% 2008 2009: 25.9% 2009 2010: 43.3% 2010 2011: 61.5% 2011 2012: 73.3% 2012 2013: 82.4% 2013 2014: 71.4% 2014 2015: 77.3% 2015 2016: 0.0% 2016 2017: 0.0% 2017 2025: 28.6% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
2007200.0%
200829413.8%
200927725.9%
2010301343.3%
2011523261.5%
2012453373.3%
2013171482.4%
2014352571.4%
2015221777.3%
2016200.0%
2017200.0%
20257228.6%
2026700.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 275 0.4% 10.9% 84.4% 1.5%
Action 2 196 1.0% 5.1% 91.3% 0.5%
Action 3 94 1.1% 1.1% 94.7% 1.1%
Action 4 48 0.0% 2.1% 97.9% 0.0%
Action 5 21 0.0% 4.8% 81.0% 14.3%
Action 6 9 0.0% 11.1% 77.8% 11.1%
Action 7 6 0.0% 0.0% 66.7% 16.7%
Action 8 4 0.0% 0.0% 75.0% 0.0%
Action 9 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 16 office actions
All years 0.6% 4 of 654 office actions
Change -0.6 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%
0.0%
2014: Alice
1.8%
11.5%
0.0%
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: 3. Merits outcomes: 3 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 0 reversed.

Full reversal rate
0.0% 0/3 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
0.0% 0/3 decisions
Median appeal duration
30.9 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Jul. 31, 2015 12/490,980 Affirmed N/A
May. 16, 2014 11/504,320 Affirmed §103
Nov. 30, 2011 10/778,494 Affirmed §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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