Examiner Brian Shaw

Grant ratio: 65.4% (52nd percentile in Art Unit 2491 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.47. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: October 2026
Grant ratio 65.4%
Average office actions / grant 2.47
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
86966
Primary art unit
2491
Work group
2490
Technology center
2400
Applications
492
Granted applications
322
Examiner phone
(571) 270-5191

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 28 58.4% 2.40
Group 202 60.0% 2.06
Tech Center 1,771 57.4% 2.14
USPTO 16,620 51.8% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.46 1,208 office actions across 492 applications
Applications with office actions 99.8% 491 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 1 0.2%
1 OA 208 42.3%
2 OAs 119 24.2%
3 OAs 58 11.8%
4 OAs 35 7.1%
5+ OAs 71 14.4%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2009: 0.0% 2009 2010: 16.7% 2010 2011: 48.5% 2011 2012: 67.9% 2012 2013: 85.7% 2013 2014: 53.5% 2014 2015: 75.9% 2015 2016: 78.6% 2016 2017: 69.7% 2017 2018: 86.1% 2018 2019: 84.2% 2019 2020: 76.0% 2020 2021: 80.0% 2021 2022: 86.2% 2022 2023: 86.7% 2023 2024: 92.0% 2024 2025: 22.2% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
2009100.0%
201018316.7%
2011331648.5%
2012281967.9%
2013353085.7%
2014432353.5%
2015292275.9%
2016282278.6%
2017332369.7%
2018363186.1%
2019191684.2%
2020251976.0%
2021252080.0%
2022292586.2%
2023302686.7%
2024252392.0%
202518422.2%
20263700.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 491 2.4% 5.3% 80.0% 7.1%
Action 2 283 1.4% 1.4% 88.7% 5.7%
Action 3 164 1.8% 0.0% 93.3% 3.7%
Action 4 106 2.8% 0.0% 94.3% 1.9%
Action 5 71 2.8% 0.0% 93.0% 0.0%
Action 6 46 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 7 20 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 8 12 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 9 8 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 10 4 0.0% 0.0% 75.0% 25.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 4.4% 5 of 114 office actions
All years 2.0% 24 of 1,208 office actions
Change +2.4 pts Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-10-23–2026-10-23. All years includes every dated office action in the data.

By year

0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2014: Alice
0.0%
3.1%
8.0%
4.3%
3.6%
2019: PEG
2.0%
0.0%
2.1%
3.4%
2.1%
2024: AI examples
6.5%
2025: August memo
6.9%
2.4%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 8. Merits outcomes: 6 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 1 reversed.

Full reversal rate
12.5% 1/8 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
25.0% 2/8 decisions
Median appeal duration
26.2 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Dec. 18, 2019 12/241,292 Affirmed §103 · §112
Jun. 6, 2019 15/363,449 Affirmed §102 · §103
Nov. 9, 2018 14/935,400 Affirmed §101 · §103 · §120
Nov. 30, 2016 13/461,158 Affirmed §103
Oct. 2, 2015 11/684,777 Affirmed N/A
Apr. 24, 2015 11/682,516 Affirmed in part N/A
Feb. 26, 2015 11/753,223 Affirmed N/A
Feb. 23, 2015 11/675,530 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 Oct. 30, 2026.

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