Examiner Douglas R Burtner

Grant ratio: 64.9% (50th percentile in Art Unit 2841 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.22. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 64.9%
Average office actions / grant 2.22
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group Very hard
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
89620
Primary art unit
2841
Work group
2840
Technology center
2800
Applications
445
Granted applications
289
Examiner phone
(571) 272-0966
Supervisor
Allen Parker
Supervisor phone
(303) 297-4722

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 20 64.7% 1.53
Group 231 68.9% 1.60
Tech Center 2,413 62.4% 1.69
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.23 993 office actions across 445 applications
Applications with office actions 99.6% 443 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 2 0.4%
1 OA 144 32.4%
2 OAs 160 36.0%
3 OAs 70 15.7%
4 OAs 45 10.1%
5+ OAs 24 5.4%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2012: 66.7% 2012 2013: 43.5% 2013 2014: 41.7% 2014 2015: 43.3% 2015 2016: 56.8% 2016 2017: 78.8% 2017 2018: 93.1% 2018 2019: 81.8% 2019 2020: 86.7% 2020 2021: 84.8% 2021 2022: 91.9% 2022 2023: 89.3% 2023 2024: 78.1% 2024 2025: 25.0% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20123266.7%
2013231043.5%
2014361541.7%
2015301343.3%
2016442556.8%
2017332678.8%
2018292793.1%
2019332781.8%
2020302686.7%
2021332884.8%
2022373491.9%
2023282589.3%
2024322578.1%
202524625.0%
20263000.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 443 0.2% 16.7% 81.5% 1.4%
Action 2 299 0.0% 12.0% 84.9% 2.7%
Action 3 139 0.0% 7.9% 87.8% 3.6%
Action 4 69 0.0% 7.2% 89.9% 2.9%
Action 5 24 0.0% 4.2% 83.3% 8.3%
Action 6 11 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 7 5 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 8 3 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 194 office actions
All years 0.1% 1 of 993 office actions
Change -0.1 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%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2019: PEG
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2.0%
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: 4. Merits outcomes: 1 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 2 reversed.

Full reversal rate
50.0% 2/4 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
75.0% 3/4 decisions
Median appeal duration
14.3 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Nov. 2, 2021 14/956,323 Reversed §103
Dec. 31, 2018 14/613,481 Affirmed §103 · §112
May. 29, 2018 14/139,858 Reversed §103
Jan. 24, 2017 13/416,404 Affirmed in part §102 · §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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