Examiner Fred H. Mull

Grant ratio: 61.2% (51st percentile in Art Unit 3648 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.39. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 61.2%
Average office actions / grant 2.39
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
77160
Primary art unit
3648
Work group
3640
Technology center
3600
Applications
632
Granted applications
387
Examiner phone
(571) 272-6975
Supervisor
Robert Hodge
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-2097

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 49 51.9% 1.69
Group 281 52.9% 1.75
Tech Center 2,381 46.2% 2.12
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.63 1,660 office actions across 632 applications
Applications with office actions 100.0% 632 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 0 0.0%
1 OA 260 41.1%
2 OAs 146 23.1%
3 OAs 70 11.1%
4 OAs 55 8.7%
5+ OAs 101 16.0%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2010: 100.0% 2010 2011: 78.6% 2011 2012: 76.5% 2012 2013: 54.8% 2013 2014: 34.0% 2014 2015: 55.3% 2015 2016: 62.8% 2016 2017: 55.6% 2017 2018: 62.5% 2018 2019: 65.5% 2019 2020: 68.2% 2020 2021: 79.4% 2021 2022: 84.1% 2022 2023: 70.0% 2023 2024: 85.3% 2024 2025: 47.5% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
201011100.0%
2011282278.6%
2012513976.5%
2013311754.8%
2014471634.0%
2015472655.3%
2016432762.8%
2017452555.6%
2018402562.5%
2019291965.5%
2020443068.2%
2021342779.4%
2022443784.1%
2023402870.0%
2024342985.3%
2025401947.5%
20263400.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 632 2.4% 7.3% 69.5% 14.2%
Action 2 372 2.7% 5.1% 69.4% 18.8%
Action 3 226 3.1% 4.0% 74.8% 14.6%
Action 4 156 1.3% 4.5% 77.6% 13.5%
Action 5 101 4.0% 5.0% 77.2% 11.9%
Action 6 69 0.0% 1.4% 82.6% 13.0%
Action 7 35 0.0% 2.9% 77.1% 20.0%
Action 8 24 0.0% 8.3% 79.2% 12.5%
Action 9 17 0.0% 0.0% 82.4% 17.6%
Action 10 12 0.0% 0.0% 66.7% 25.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 1.3% 3 of 226 office actions
All years 2.3% 39 of 1,660 office actions
Change -1.0 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%
0.7%
1.1%
2014: Alice
3.7%
5.8%
7.6%
5.4%
1.8%
2019: PEG
0.0%
1.0%
0.0%
1.3%
1.4%
2024: AI examples
1.3%
2025: August memo
0.0%
2.3%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 5. Merits outcomes: 2 affirmed, 2 affirmed in part, and 1 reversed.

Full reversal rate
20.0% 1/5 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
60.0% 3/5 decisions
Median appeal duration
25.9 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Aug. 29, 2025 17/167,761 Affirmed in part §103 · §112
Aug. 29, 2024 17/239,737 Affirmed in part §103
Feb. 10, 2021 14/779,623 Affirmed §103
Feb. 8, 2021 13/904,711 Reversed §103
Jun. 4, 2015 12/900,565 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 Aug. 27, 2026.

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