Examiner Thomas Ray Knief
Grant ratio: 30.8% (14th percentile in Art Unit 2853 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.15. Most common rejection type: §103.
Recently active
Last office action in data: August 2026
Examiner record
- Examiner ID
- 99503
- Primary art unit
- 2853
- Work group
- 2850
- Technology center
- 2800
- Applications
- 65
- Granted applications
- 20
- Examiner phone
- (703) 756-5733
- Supervisor
- Stephen Meier
- Supervisor phone
- (571) 272-2149
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| Group | Examiners | Average grant ratio | Average office actions / grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art Unit | 52 | 63.5% | 1.63 |
| Group | 380 | 61.0% | 1.65 |
| Tech Center | 2,413 | 62.4% | 1.69 |
| USPTO | 16,475 | 52.7% | 1.98 |
Office actions per application
| Office actions | Applications | Share of applications |
|---|---|---|
| No OA observed | 0 | 0.0% |
| 1 OA | 47 | 72.3% |
| 2 OAs | 14 | 21.5% |
| 3 OAs | 3 | 4.6% |
| 4 OAs | 1 | 1.5% |
| 5+ OAs | 0 | 0.0% |
Each application is counted once. “5+” includes all higher counts.
Grant history
Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.
Yearly counts
| Year | Applications | Grants | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 10 | 7 | 70.0% |
| 2025 | 25 | 13 | 52.0% |
| 2026 | 30 | 0 | 0.0% |
Rejections by office-action stage
| Office-action stage | Actions observed | §101 | §102 | §103 | §112 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action 1 | 65 | 1.5% | 23.1% | 58.5% | 15.4% |
| Action 2 | 18 | 5.6% | 22.2% | 55.6% | 5.6% |
| Action 3 | 4 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 75.0% | 25.0% |
| Action 4 | 1 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0.0% |
Section 101 rejections
Last 3 years: 2023-08-28–2026-08-28. All years includes every dated office action in the data.
By year
2024: AI examples
0.0%
2025: August memo
5.1%
0.0%
Each bar is the percentage of office actions with a §101 rejection.
PTAB appeals
No PTAB decisions could be matched to this examiner.
Older and transferred applications may not have a reliable examiner match. Data through Aug. 27, 2026.