Examiner Patrick Mcatee

Grant ratio: 6.1% (29th percentile in Art Unit 3689 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 3.14. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 6.1%
Average office actions / grant 3.14
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
90401
Primary art unit
3689
Work group
3680
Technology center
3600
Applications
231
Granted applications
14
Examiner phone
(571) 272-7575
Supervisor
Deborah Reynolds
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-0734

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 33 13.8% 2.82
Group 285 28.7% 2.80
Tech Center 2,381 46.2% 2.12
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 3.08 712 office actions across 231 applications
Applications with office actions 97.8% 226 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 5 2.2%
1 OA 65 28.1%
2 OAs 52 22.5%
3 OAs 30 13.0%
4 OAs 34 14.7%
5+ OAs 45 19.5%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2014: 3.6% 2014 2015: 2.4% 2015 2016: 2.8% 2016 2017: 5.9% 2017 2018: 19.4% 2018 2019: 0.0% 2019 2020: 0.0% 2020 2021: 0.0% 2021 2024: 33.3% 2024 2025: 12.5% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20142813.6%
20154112.4%
20163612.8%
20173425.9%
201836719.4%
2019700.0%
2020800.0%
20211500.0%
20243133.3%
20258112.5%
20261500.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 226 2.2% 9.7% 83.6% 2.7%
Action 2 161 21.7% 11.8% 58.4% 5.6%
Action 3 109 25.7% 11.9% 56.0% 4.6%
Action 4 79 22.8% 7.6% 58.2% 8.9%
Action 5 45 22.2% 4.4% 66.7% 2.2%
Action 6 29 44.8% 0.0% 55.2% 0.0%
Action 7 17 47.1% 5.9% 35.3% 11.8%
Action 8 15 60.0% 0.0% 40.0% 0.0%
Action 9 9 55.6% 0.0% 44.4% 0.0%
Action 10 8 25.0% 0.0% 50.0% 25.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 32.5% 13 of 40 office actions
All years 19.1% 136 of 712 office actions
Change +13.4 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%
0.0%
7.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2014: Alice
6.3%
23.0%
20.4%
26.7%
33.8%
2019: PEG
42.9%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024: AI examples
33.3%
2025: August memo
26.7%
43.8%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 13. Merits outcomes: 11 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 1 reversed.

Full reversal rate
7.7% 1/13 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
15.4% 2/13 decisions
Median appeal duration
19.6 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Mar. 31, 2021 13/435,474 Affirmed §101 · §103 · §112
Mar. 22, 2021 14/580,503 Affirmed §101 · §102 · §103 · §112
Oct. 1, 2020 14/095,475 Affirmed §101 · §102 · §103 · §112
Jul. 2, 2020 14/168,371 Affirmed §101 · §103 · §112
Jun. 2, 2020 13/706,529 Affirmed §101 · §102 · §103
Apr. 28, 2020 13/745,117 Affirmed §101 · §112
Feb. 12, 2020 14/169,921 Affirmed §101 · §102 · §103
Jan. 14, 2020 14/803,031 Affirmed in part §101 · §103 · §112
Nov. 20, 2019 12/380,578 Affirmed §101 · §103
Jun. 28, 2018 14/047,279 Affirmed §101 · §103 · §120
Jun. 28, 2018 14/176,046 Reversed §101 · §103
Mar. 23, 2018 12/125,005 Affirmed §101

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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