Examiner Alexander Mercado

Grant ratio: 61.4% (10th percentile in Art Unit 2856 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.18. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 61.4%
Average office actions / grant 2.18
Compared with Art unit Very hard
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center Very hard
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
89964
Primary art unit
2856
Work group
2850
Technology center
2800
Applications
640
Granted applications
393
Examiner phone
(571) 270-7094
Supervisor
Laura Martin
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-2160

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 42 70.8% 1.54
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

Average office actions per application 2.16 1,381 office actions across 640 applications
Applications with office actions 98.6% 631 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 9 1.4%
1 OA 277 43.3%
2 OAs 175 27.3%
3 OAs 75 11.7%
4 OAs 50 7.8%
5+ OAs 54 8.4%

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: 69.8% 2013 2014: 51.4% 2014 2015: 58.6% 2015 2016: 66.7% 2016 2017: 61.5% 2017 2018: 53.2% 2018 2019: 56.9% 2019 2020: 75.0% 2020 2021: 81.8% 2021 2022: 62.5% 2022 2023: 83.0% 2023 2024: 86.4% 2024 2025: 49.1% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20123266.7%
2013533769.8%
2014351851.4%
2015291758.6%
2016271866.7%
2017523261.5%
2018472553.2%
2019512956.9%
2020604575.0%
2021443681.8%
2022483062.5%
2023473983.0%
2024443886.4%
2025552749.1%
20264500.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 631 1.3% 5.2% 74.2% 16.6%
Action 2 354 0.3% 1.7% 85.6% 11.6%
Action 3 179 0.6% 1.1% 88.8% 9.5%
Action 4 104 0.0% 1.0% 97.1% 1.9%
Action 5 54 0.0% 0.0% 96.3% 3.7%
Action 6 27 3.7% 0.0% 92.6% 3.7%
Action 7 15 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 8 7 0.0% 0.0% 85.7% 14.3%
Action 9 5 0.0% 0.0% 80.0% 20.0%
Action 10 2 0.0% 0.0% 50.0% 50.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.4% 1 of 248 office actions
All years 0.8% 11 of 1,381 office actions
Change -0.4 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%
1.6%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2.2%
2.2%
2019: PEG
0.0%
0.0%
2.7%
0.0%
0.0%
2024: AI examples
1.3%
2025: August memo
0.0%
0.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 12. Merits outcomes: 4 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 7 reversed.

Full reversal rate
58.3% 7/12 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
66.7% 8/12 decisions
Median appeal duration
10.7 months
New grounds of rejection
1
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Sep. 21, 2022 16/259,124 Affirmed in part New ground of rejection §103 · §112
Aug. 24, 2022 15/529,135 Reversed §103
Mar. 1, 2022 15/691,317 Affirmed §112
Jan. 19, 2021 14/919,362 Reversed §103
Sep. 17, 2020 13/642,562 Reversed §103
Sep. 12, 2019 14/697,086 Reversed §101 · §103
Aug. 30, 2019 13/225,787 Reversed §102 · §103
Nov. 26, 2018 14/837,938 Affirmed §103
Mar. 28, 2018 13/501,064 Reversed §103
Aug. 30, 2017 13/657,614 Reversed §103
Mar. 25, 2016 13/068,199 Affirmed §103
Mar. 9, 2016 13/054,195 Affirmed §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.

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