Examiner John Villecco

Grant ratio: 63.8% (90th percentile in Art Unit 3649 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.68. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: July 2026
Grant ratio 63.8%
Average office actions / grant 1.68
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
78676
Primary art unit
3649
Work group
3640
Technology center
2600
Applications
776
Granted applications
495
Examiner phone
(571) 272-7319
Supervisor
Vu Le
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-7332

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 15 50.9% 1.97
Group 281 52.9% 1.75
Tech Center 1,754 57.4% 1.88
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.67 1,299 office actions across 779 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 779 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 468 60.1%
2 OAs 205 26.3%
3 OAs 56 7.2%
4 OAs 24 3.1%
5+ OAs 26 3.3%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 58.5% 2008 2009: 67.4% 2009 2010: 81.5% 2010 2011: 78.3% 2011 2012: 72.3% 2012 2013: 72.9% 2013 2014: 83.0% 2014 2015: 64.7% 2015 2016: 50.9% 2016 2017: 61.2% 2017 2018: 48.1% 2018 2019: 41.2% 2019 2020: 40.7% 2020 2021: 75.8% 2021 2022: 75.0% 2022 2023: 80.0% 2023 2025: 20.0% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
2008412458.5%
2009432967.4%
2010544481.5%
2011463678.3%
2012654772.3%
2013594372.9%
2014534483.0%
2015513364.7%
2016552850.9%
2017493061.2%
2018522548.1%
2019512141.2%
2020542240.7%
2021332575.8%
2022403075.0%
2023151280.0%
202510220.0%
2026500.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 779 4.5% 13.4% 59.7% 17.5%
Action 2 311 1.6% 8.0% 66.6% 18.6%
Action 3 106 0.9% 4.7% 76.4% 17.9%
Action 4 50 0.0% 2.0% 80.0% 16.0%
Action 5 26 0.0% 11.5% 76.9% 11.5%
Action 6 11 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 7 7 0.0% 14.3% 71.4% 14.3%
Action 8 4 0.0% 0.0% 75.0% 25.0%
Action 9 3 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 10 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 17 office actions
All years 3.2% 41 of 1,299 office actions
Change -3.2 pts Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-08-28–2026-08-28. All years includes every dated office action in the data.

By year

1.3%
1.1%
3.1%
8.2%
2.5%
2.2%
2014: Alice
4.3%
1.3%
5.1%
1.2%
2.4%
2019: PEG
6.3%
4.8%
0.0%
3.4%
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: 2. Merits outcomes: 1 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 0 reversed.

Full reversal rate
0.0% 0/2 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
50.0% 1/2 decisions
Median appeal duration
12.1 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Jun. 8, 2021 15/361,469 Affirmed §101 · §112
Dec. 22, 2016 13/705,563 Affirmed in part §103 · §112

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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