Examiner Thaddeus J Plecha

Grant ratio: 80.0% (68th percentile in Art Unit 2438 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.43. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 80.0%
Average office actions / grant 1.43
Compared with Art unit Very easy
Compared with Work group Very easy
Compared with Technology center Very easy
Compared with USPTO Very easy

Examiner record

Examiner ID
86013
Primary art unit
2438
Work group
2430
Technology center
2400
Applications
666
Granted applications
533
Examiner phone
(571) 270-7506
Supervisor
Taghi Arani
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-3787

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 25 64.9% 1.88
Group 233 61.7% 1.99
Tech Center 1,754 58.4% 2.14
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.44 961 office actions across 667 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 667 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 472 70.8%
2 OAs 137 20.5%
3 OAs 32 4.8%
4 OAs 15 2.2%
5+ OAs 11 1.6%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 50.0% 2008 2009: 27.3% 2009 2010: 100.0% 2010 2011: 72.2% 2011 2012: 69.6% 2012 2013: 75.0% 2013 2014: 83.3% 2014 2015: 70.8% 2015 2016: 81.1% 2016 2017: 92.7% 2017 2018: 83.0% 2018 2019: 91.1% 2019 2020: 91.1% 2020 2021: 100.0% 2021 2022: 97.9% 2022 2023: 96.1% 2023 2024: 90.9% 2024 2025: 60.0% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20086350.0%
200911327.3%
201011100.0%
2011181372.2%
2012231669.6%
2013362775.0%
2014181583.3%
2015241770.8%
2016534381.1%
2017413892.7%
2018473983.0%
2019565191.1%
2020565191.1%
20215454100.0%
2022474697.9%
2023514996.1%
2024444090.9%
2025452760.0%
20263500.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 667 5.1% 0.7% 50.4% 32.7%
Action 2 195 2.6% 2.6% 84.6% 7.7%
Action 3 58 5.2% 0.0% 81.0% 12.1%
Action 4 26 3.8% 0.0% 88.5% 3.8%
Action 5 11 9.1% 0.0% 72.7% 0.0%
Action 6 4 0.0% 0.0% 75.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 8.8% 14 of 159 office actions
All years 4.6% 44 of 961 office actions
Change +4.2 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%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2014: Alice
0.0%
5.7%
6.1%
4.9%
3.6%
2019: PEG
10.0%
2.9%
3.1%
2.0%
8.6%
2024: AI examples
4.0%
2025: August memo
13.7%
7.7%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 6. Merits outcomes: 4 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 1 reversed.

Full reversal rate
16.7% 1/6 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
33.3% 2/6 decisions
Median appeal duration
27.1 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Jun. 8, 2021 14/575,405 Affirmed §103
Sep. 13, 2018 14/176,938 Affirmed §101
Mar. 27, 2018 13/536,653 Reversed §103
Jun. 26, 2014 11/130,057 Affirmed N/A
Mar. 31, 2014 11/247,704 Affirmed N/A
Aug. 27, 2013 11/553,101 Affirmed in part 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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