Examiner Stephen Sutton Kotter

Grant ratio: 38.8% (21st percentile in Art Unit 2828 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.90. Most common rejection type: §103.

Potentially inactive Last office action in data: June 2026
Grant ratio 38.8%
Average office actions / grant 1.90
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
97658
Primary art unit
2828
Work group
2820
Technology center
2800
Applications
134
Granted applications
52

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 27 60.1% 1.77
Group 207 71.2% 1.64
Tech Center 2,413 62.4% 1.69
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.05 283 office actions across 138 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 138 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 54 39.1%
2 OAs 47 34.1%
3 OAs 20 14.5%
4 OAs 11 8.0%
5+ OAs 6 4.3%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2022: 0.0% 2022 2023: 73.1% 2023 2024: 52.4% 2024 2025: 27.5% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
2022100.0%
2023261973.1%
2024422252.4%
2025401127.5%
20262500.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 138 0.0% 5.8% 81.9% 11.6%
Action 2 84 0.0% 4.8% 81.0% 10.7%
Action 3 37 0.0% 2.7% 94.6% 2.7%
Action 4 17 0.0% 0.0% 94.1% 0.0%
Action 5 6 0.0% 0.0% 83.3% 0.0%
Action 6 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 243 office actions
All years 0.0% 0 of 283 office actions
Change 0.0 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%
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: 1. Merits outcomes: 0 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 1 reversed.

Full reversal rate
100.0% 1/1 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
100.0% 1/1 decisions
Median appeal duration
8.9 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Sep. 17, 2025 17/054,807 Reversed §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.

Job History

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