Examiner Matthew Mikels

Grant ratio: 75.4% (56th percentile in Art Unit 2876 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.97. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 75.4%
Average office actions / grant 1.97
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO Very easy

Examiner record

Examiner ID
87010
Primary art unit
2876
Work group
2870
Technology center
2800
Applications
1,350
Granted applications
1,018
Examiner phone
(571) 270-5470
Supervisor
Michael G Lee
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-2398

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 17 64.7% 1.87
Group 351 61.2% 1.71
Tech Center 2,413 62.4% 1.69
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.98 2,677 office actions across 1,350 applications
Applications with office actions 99.6% 1,345 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 5 0.4%
1 OA 691 51.2%
2 OAs 348 25.8%
3 OAs 137 10.1%
4 OAs 88 6.5%
5+ OAs 81 6.0%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2009: 35.7% 2009 2010: 43.4% 2010 2011: 60.3% 2011 2012: 72.1% 2012 2013: 69.0% 2013 2014: 88.7% 2014 2015: 79.7% 2015 2016: 75.6% 2016 2017: 82.6% 2017 2018: 85.9% 2018 2019: 84.3% 2019 2020: 85.7% 2020 2021: 88.6% 2021 2022: 92.0% 2022 2023: 90.5% 2023 2024: 95.5% 2024 2025: 48.8% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200914535.7%
2010532343.4%
2011734460.3%
2012866272.1%
2013714969.0%
2014978688.7%
2015796379.7%
2016826275.6%
2017867182.6%
2018927985.9%
2019705984.3%
2020635485.7%
2021887888.6%
2022888192.0%
2023847690.5%
2024898595.5%
2025844148.8%
20265100.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 1,345 0.3% 32.6% 44.1% 0.9%
Action 2 654 0.2% 19.7% 71.6% 0.3%
Action 3 306 0.0% 10.1% 85.3% 0.3%
Action 4 169 0.0% 10.1% 84.6% 1.8%
Action 5 81 0.0% 13.6% 84.0% 1.2%
Action 6 48 2.1% 12.5% 85.4% 0.0%
Action 7 26 3.8% 7.7% 88.5% 0.0%
Action 8 14 0.0% 21.4% 78.6% 0.0%
Action 9 9 0.0% 11.1% 88.9% 0.0%
Action 10 7 0.0% 28.6% 71.4% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 348 office actions
All years 0.3% 7 of 2,677 office actions
Change -0.3 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%
0.0%
0.0%
1.0%
0.7%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
1.0%
0.0%
1.1%
2019: PEG
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
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: 21. Merits outcomes: 7 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 13 reversed.

Full reversal rate
61.9% 13/21 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
66.7% 14/21 decisions
Median appeal duration
22.0 months
New grounds of rejection
1
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Mar. 2, 2020 15/134,384 Reversed §103
Oct. 30, 2019 14/416,814 Reversed §102 · §103 · §112
Mar. 29, 2019 13/556,327 Reversed N/A
Nov. 29, 2018 15/114,202 Reversed §103
Jan. 2, 2018 14/415,430 Affirmed §102 · §103 · §112
Mar. 2, 2017 13/975,530 Reversed §102
Dec. 23, 2016 13/115,169 Affirmed §103
Jul. 26, 2016 13/107,560 Reversed §103
Jul. 22, 2016 13/242,729 Reversed §102 · §103
Jun. 8, 2016 13/655,908 Reversed N/A
Mar. 23, 2016 13/217,044 Affirmed §103
Mar. 8, 2016 11/681,121 Reversed §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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