Examiner Scott S. Trotter

Grant ratio: 59.4% (97th percentile in Art Unit 3696 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.15. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 59.4%
Average office actions / grant 2.15
Compared with Art unit Very easy
Compared with Work group Very easy
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
82985
Primary art unit
3696
Work group
3690
Technology center
3600
Applications
579
Granted applications
344
Examiner phone
(571) 272-7366
Supervisor
Kambiz Abdi
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-6702

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 15 43.4% 2.71
Group 163 34.3% 2.69
Tech Center 2,381 46.2% 2.12
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.27 1,312 office actions across 579 applications
Applications with office actions 98.1% 568 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 11 1.9%
1 OA 256 44.2%
2 OAs 141 24.4%
3 OAs 68 11.7%
4 OAs 40 6.9%
5+ OAs 63 10.9%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 27.3% 2008 2009: 48.3% 2009 2010: 61.3% 2010 2011: 65.2% 2011 2012: 69.0% 2012 2013: 77.8% 2013 2014: 14.8% 2014 2015: 18.9% 2015 2016: 31.4% 2016 2017: 54.2% 2017 2018: 80.6% 2018 2019: 63.4% 2019 2020: 89.2% 2020 2021: 91.7% 2021 2022: 93.5% 2022 2023: 87.5% 2023 2024: 82.8% 2024 2025: 47.6% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200822627.3%
2009291448.3%
2010311961.3%
2011231565.2%
2012292069.0%
2013181477.8%
201427414.8%
201537718.9%
2016351131.4%
2017482654.2%
2018312580.6%
2019412663.4%
2020373389.2%
2021363391.7%
2022312993.5%
2023322887.5%
2024292482.8%
2025211047.6%
20262200.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 568 9.3% 7.6% 67.4% 1.2%
Action 2 312 12.2% 4.5% 78.5% 1.0%
Action 3 171 22.8% 1.2% 73.1% 1.2%
Action 4 103 26.2% 0.0% 70.9% 1.0%
Action 5 63 33.3% 1.6% 60.3% 3.2%
Action 6 38 42.1% 0.0% 52.6% 2.6%
Action 7 22 50.0% 0.0% 40.9% 4.5%
Action 8 19 57.9% 0.0% 36.8% 0.0%
Action 9 7 42.9% 0.0% 57.1% 0.0%
Action 10 3 33.3% 0.0% 66.7% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 27.2% 28 of 103 office actions
All years 16.8% 220 of 1,312 office actions
Change +10.4 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%
2.7%
1.2%
1.2%
0.0%
1.5%
2014: Alice
16.1%
20.9%
33.0%
38.2%
49.2%
2019: PEG
20.9%
9.3%
10.9%
17.8%
25.7%
2024: AI examples
28.2%
2025: August memo
34.5%
24.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 23. Merits outcomes: 18 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 4 reversed.

Full reversal rate
17.4% 4/23 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
21.7% 5/23 decisions
Median appeal duration
19.6 months
New grounds of rejection
1
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Mar. 2, 2021 14/214,075 Affirmed §101
Mar. 24, 2020 10/729,997 Affirmed §101
Jan. 2, 2020 14/146,638 Reversed §101
Aug. 15, 2019 14/046,444 Affirmed §101
Aug. 14, 2019 11/332,935 Affirmed §101
Jul. 30, 2019 13/769,059 Reversed §101 · §103
Sep. 25, 2018 13/677,782 Affirmed §101 · §103
Sep. 6, 2018 13/965,805 Affirmed §101 · §120
Aug. 2, 2018 12/157,734 Affirmed §101 · §103 · §120
Jun. 8, 2018 13/710,105 Affirmed §101 · §103 · §112 · §120
May. 7, 2018 14/043,736 Affirmed §101 · §103
Mar. 23, 2018 13/730,550 Affirmed §101 · §102

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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