Examiner Catherine A. Kelly

Grant ratio: 55.0% (67th percentile in Art Unit 3634 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.99. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: October 2026
Grant ratio 55.0%
Average office actions / grant 1.99
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center Very easy
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
84321
Primary art unit
3634
Work group
3630
Technology center
3600
Applications
791
Granted applications
435
Examiner phone
(571) 270-3660
Supervisor
Anita Coupe
Supervisor phone
(571) 270-3614

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 30 46.9% 1.92
Group 184 50.8% 1.79
Tech Center 2,390 45.7% 2.12
USPTO 16,572 52.1% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.92 1,515 office actions across 791 applications
Applications with office actions 99.7% 789 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 2 0.3%
1 OA 365 46.1%
2 OAs 268 33.9%
3 OAs 69 8.7%
4 OAs 55 7.0%
5+ OAs 32 4.0%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 30.0% 2008 2009: 32.8% 2009 2010: 40.5% 2010 2011: 56.5% 2011 2012: 52.6% 2012 2013: 51.9% 2013 2014: 66.7% 2014 2015: 67.5% 2015 2016: 59.2% 2016 2017: 70.2% 2017 2018: 66.2% 2018 2019: 68.0% 2019 2020: 82.4% 2020 2021: 73.9% 2021 2022: 57.1% 2022 2023: 33.3% 2023 2024: 90.0% 2024 2025: 47.5% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
2008401230.0%
2009642132.8%
2010421740.5%
2011462656.5%
2012382052.6%
2013522751.9%
2014513466.7%
2015402767.5%
2016492959.2%
2017574070.2%
2018714766.2%
2019503468.0%
2020514282.4%
2021231773.9%
20227457.1%
20233133.3%
2024201890.0%
2025401947.5%
20264700.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 789 0.0% 3.3% 90.7% 3.9%
Action 2 424 0.0% 2.6% 91.3% 5.2%
Action 3 156 0.0% 1.9% 92.3% 5.8%
Action 4 87 0.0% 0.0% 93.1% 4.6%
Action 5 32 0.0% 6.3% 93.8% 0.0%
Action 6 17 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 7 6 0.0% 0.0% 83.3% 16.7%
Action 8 3 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 9 1 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 137 office actions
All years 0.0% 0 of 1,515 office actions
Change 0.0 pts Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-10-02–2026-10-02. All years includes every dated office action in the data.

By year

0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
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: 17. Merits outcomes: 9 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 7 reversed.

Full reversal rate
41.2% 7/17 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
47.1% 8/17 decisions
Median appeal duration
24.2 months
New grounds of rejection
1
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Dec. 26, 2019 14/454,896 Affirmed New ground of rejection §103 · §112
Apr. 10, 2019 14/224,227 Affirmed §103
Jul. 31, 2018 14/313,538 Affirmed §103 · §112
Jul. 19, 2018 14/587,269 Affirmed §103
Oct. 19, 2017 14/507,528 Affirmed §103
Sep. 15, 2017 14/632,408 Reversed §103
Aug. 16, 2017 14/551,320 Reversed §103 · §112
Mar. 31, 2017 12/728,207 Reversed §103
Aug. 22, 2016 12/533,456 Affirmed §103
Jun. 20, 2016 12/658,225 Reversed §103
Jul. 23, 2014 11/620,217 Reversed N/A
Apr. 30, 2013 11/955,876 Affirmed N/A

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. 9, 2026.

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