Examiner Franklin D Balseca

Grant ratio: 53.8% (11th percentile in Art Unit 2685 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.31. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 53.8%
Average office actions / grant 2.31
Compared with Art unit Very hard
Compared with Work group Very hard
Compared with Technology center Very hard
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
87167
Primary art unit
2685
Work group
2680
Technology center
2600
Applications
703
Granted applications
378
Examiner phone
(571) 270-5966
Supervisor
Steven Lim
Supervisor phone
(571) 270-1210

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 14 68.9% 1.89
Group 114 64.6% 1.80
Tech Center 1,754 57.4% 1.88
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.42 1,703 office actions across 703 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 703 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 280 39.8%
2 OAs 174 24.8%
3 OAs 100 14.2%
4 OAs 71 10.1%
5+ OAs 78 11.1%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2010: 60.0% 2010 2011: 26.7% 2011 2012: 50.0% 2012 2013: 36.4% 2013 2014: 36.0% 2014 2015: 26.1% 2015 2016: 50.0% 2016 2017: 52.2% 2017 2018: 53.8% 2018 2019: 59.2% 2019 2020: 77.2% 2020 2021: 63.2% 2021 2022: 73.1% 2022 2023: 78.8% 2023 2024: 64.4% 2024 2025: 40.6% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20105360.0%
201130826.7%
2012321650.0%
2013331236.4%
201425936.0%
201523626.1%
2016321650.0%
2017462452.2%
2018392153.8%
2019492959.2%
2020574477.2%
2021573663.2%
2022523873.1%
2023665278.8%
2024593864.4%
2025642640.6%
20263400.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 703 0.4% 0.9% 76.4% 20.2%
Action 2 423 0.0% 0.0% 86.8% 11.3%
Action 3 249 0.4% 0.0% 86.7% 11.6%
Action 4 149 0.0% 0.0% 91.9% 6.7%
Action 5 78 0.0% 0.0% 93.6% 5.1%
Action 6 42 0.0% 0.0% 90.5% 9.5%
Action 7 20 0.0% 0.0% 95.0% 5.0%
Action 8 14 0.0% 0.0% 85.7% 7.1%
Action 9 7 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 10 4 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 320 office actions
All years 0.2% 4 of 1,703 office actions
Change -0.2 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%
1.1%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.8%
2019: PEG
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.8%
0.7%
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: 19. Merits outcomes: 13 affirmed, 3 affirmed in part, and 3 reversed.

Full reversal rate
15.8% 3/19 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
31.6% 6/19 decisions
Median appeal duration
18.3 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Dec. 29, 2023 15/310,811 Affirmed §103 · §112
Jan. 28, 2022 15/534,420 Affirmed N/A
Jul. 1, 2021 15/303,218 Affirmed in part §103
Mar. 18, 2021 15/527,543 Reversed §103
Apr. 1, 2020 12/051,708 Affirmed §103
Feb. 19, 2020 14/309,778 Reversed §103
Mar. 9, 2018 14/138,480 Affirmed in part §103
May. 30, 2017 13/339,936 Affirmed §103
Feb. 28, 2017 11/953,902 Affirmed §103 · §112
Feb. 8, 2017 12/457,663 Affirmed §103
Nov. 21, 2016 11/945,055 Affirmed §103
Sep. 26, 2016 12/761,969 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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