Examiner John M. Royston

Grant ratio: 67.9% (39th percentile in Art Unit 2855 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.62. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: October 2026
Grant ratio 67.9%
Average office actions / grant 1.62
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group Very easy
Compared with Technology center Very easy
Compared with USPTO Very easy

Examiner record

Examiner ID
88676
Primary art unit
2855
Work group
2850
Technology center
2800
Applications
707
Granted applications
480
Examiner phone
(571) 270-7215
Supervisor
Peter Macchiarolo
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-2375

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 47 56.3% 1.52
Group 384 59.8% 1.65
Tech Center 2,435 61.3% 1.69
USPTO 16,620 51.8% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.66 1,176 office actions across 707 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 707 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 433 61.2%
2 OAs 155 21.9%
3 OAs 74 10.5%
4 OAs 30 4.2%
5+ OAs 15 2.1%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2012: 25.0% 2012 2013: 59.0% 2013 2014: 64.6% 2014 2015: 69.4% 2015 2016: 52.8% 2016 2017: 76.5% 2017 2018: 84.2% 2018 2019: 77.8% 2019 2020: 81.8% 2020 2021: 94.3% 2021 2022: 91.5% 2022 2023: 85.2% 2023 2024: 92.5% 2024 2025: 45.3% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20128225.0%
2013392359.0%
2014483164.6%
2015362569.4%
2016361952.8%
2017513976.5%
2018574884.2%
2019544277.8%
2020554581.8%
2021535094.3%
2022474391.5%
2023615285.2%
2024403792.5%
2025532445.3%
20266900.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 707 1.3% 8.9% 77.8% 6.9%
Action 2 274 1.1% 13.1% 77.7% 5.8%
Action 3 119 3.4% 4.2% 89.9% 1.7%
Action 4 45 4.4% 8.9% 86.7% 0.0%
Action 5 15 6.7% 6.7% 80.0% 6.7%
Action 6 11 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 7 4 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 8 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 7.1% 15 of 211 office actions
All years 1.6% 19 of 1,176 office actions
Change +5.5 pts Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-10-23–2026-10-23. All years includes every dated office action in the data.

By year

0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.0%
2019: PEG
1.3%
0.0%
0.0%
3.5%
1.3%
2024: AI examples
5.7%
2025: August memo
11.9%
4.1%

Each bar is the percentage of office actions with a §101 rejection.

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 4. Merits outcomes: 2 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 2 reversed.

Full reversal rate
50.0% 2/4 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
50.0% 2/4 decisions
Median appeal duration
12.5 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Jan. 7, 2020 14/862,227 Affirmed §103
Nov. 29, 2018 13/186,929 Reversed N/A
Nov. 22, 2017 14/478,291 Affirmed §102 · §103
Feb. 27, 2017 12/923,103 Reversed §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 Oct. 30, 2026.

Job History

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