Examiner Douglas Kay

Grant ratio: 52.0% (35th percentile in Art Unit 2865 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.68. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 52.0%
Average office actions / grant 2.68
Compared with Art unit Very hard
Compared with Work group Very hard
Compared with Technology center Very hard
Compared with USPTO Very hard

Examiner record

Examiner ID
92955
Primary art unit
2865
Work group
2860
Technology center
2800
Applications
410
Granted applications
213
Examiner phone
(408) 918-7569

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 11 57.9% 2.44
Group 131 67.2% 1.82
Tech Center 2,413 62.4% 1.69
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.40 982 office actions across 410 applications
Applications with office actions 97.3% 399 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 11 2.7%
1 OA 134 32.7%
2 OAs 109 26.6%
3 OAs 74 18.0%
4 OAs 42 10.2%
5+ OAs 40 9.8%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2016: 42.9% 2016 2017: 22.2% 2017 2018: 21.4% 2018 2019: 56.4% 2019 2020: 53.3% 2020 2021: 62.2% 2021 2022: 64.4% 2022 2023: 73.5% 2023 2024: 83.7% 2024 2025: 58.3% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20167342.9%
201727622.2%
201828621.4%
2019392256.4%
2020452453.3%
2021372362.2%
2022452964.4%
2023493673.5%
2024433683.7%
2025482858.3%
20264200.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 399 9.0% 2.0% 75.7% 5.5%
Action 2 265 13.2% 1.1% 72.5% 9.1%
Action 3 156 13.5% 0.0% 71.8% 11.5%
Action 4 82 18.3% 0.0% 74.4% 4.9%
Action 5 40 12.5% 0.0% 72.5% 10.0%
Action 6 24 16.7% 0.0% 45.8% 20.8%
Action 7 8 0.0% 0.0% 75.0% 0.0%
Action 8 4 0.0% 0.0% 75.0% 25.0%
Action 9 2 0.0% 0.0% 50.0% 0.0%
Action 10 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 15.7% 37 of 236 office actions
All years 11.8% 116 of 982 office actions
Change +3.9 pts Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-08-28–2026-08-28. All years includes every dated office action in the data.

By year

2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
13.0%
10.4%
2019: PEG
5.8%
9.9%
11.2%
13.7%
14.2%
2024: AI examples
16.4%
2025: August memo
13.9%
20.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 1. Merits outcomes: 1 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 0 reversed.

Full reversal rate
0.0% 0/1 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
0.0% 0/1 decisions
Median appeal duration
14.6 months
New grounds of rejection
1
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Mar. 25, 2021 15/107,193 Affirmed New ground of rejection §101 · §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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