Examiner Walter F Briney Iii

Grant ratio: 53.7% (69th percentile in Art Unit 2614 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.80. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 53.7%
Average office actions / grant 1.80
Compared with Art unit Very easy
Compared with Work group Very easy
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO Very easy

Examiner record

Examiner ID
79993
Primary art unit
2614
Work group
2610
Technology center
2600
Applications
627
Granted applications
337
Examiner phone
(571) 272-7513
Supervisor
Carolyn Edwards
Supervisor phone
(571) 270-7136

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 29 39.4% 2.09
Group 291 49.1% 1.92
Tech Center 1,754 57.4% 1.88
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.91 1,198 office actions across 627 applications
Applications with office actions 99.7% 625 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 2 0.3%
1 OA 308 49.1%
2 OAs 194 30.9%
3 OAs 58 9.3%
4 OAs 38 6.1%
5+ OAs 27 4.3%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 53.3% 2008 2009: 58.9% 2009 2010: 60.0% 2010 2011: 69.7% 2011 2012: 53.3% 2012 2017: 50.0% 2017 2018: 33.3% 2018 2019: 75.0% 2019 2020: 68.3% 2020 2021: 71.4% 2021 2022: 69.6% 2022 2023: 65.2% 2023 2024: 66.7% 2024 2025: 32.0% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
2008452453.3%
2009563358.9%
2010603660.0%
2011332369.7%
201215853.3%
20172150.0%
20183133.3%
2019161275.0%
2020604168.3%
2021493571.4%
2022463269.6%
2023694565.2%
2024453066.7%
2025501632.0%
20267800.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 625 1.3% 8.5% 69.3% 10.9%
Action 2 317 0.6% 6.9% 81.1% 8.2%
Action 3 123 0.0% 4.1% 82.1% 10.6%
Action 4 65 1.5% 7.7% 80.0% 9.2%
Action 5 27 0.0% 7.4% 88.9% 0.0%
Action 6 16 0.0% 6.3% 93.8% 0.0%
Action 7 10 0.0% 20.0% 80.0% 0.0%
Action 8 5 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 9 2 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 10 2 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.5% 2 of 371 office actions
All years 0.9% 11 of 1,198 office actions
Change -0.4 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%
1.0%
0.0%
6.7%
0.0%
0.0%
2019: PEG
3.6%
1.5%
0.9%
1.0%
1.5%
2024: AI examples
0.9%
2025: August memo
0.0%
1.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 8. Merits outcomes: 3 affirmed, 2 affirmed in part, and 3 reversed.

Full reversal rate
37.5% 3/8 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
62.5% 5/8 decisions
Median appeal duration
12.6 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Nov. 12, 2025 18/183,485 Reversed §102 · §103
Oct. 21, 2025 17/453,764 Reversed §103
Dec. 16, 2024 16/990,358 Affirmed §103 · §112
Nov. 26, 2024 16/534,588 Reversed §103
Oct. 28, 2024 16/805,700 Affirmed N/A
Feb. 15, 2022 14/515,483 Affirmed in part §103 · §112
Jun. 18, 2015 12/214,898 Affirmed in part §102 · §103
Sep. 12, 2011 10/465,909 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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