Examiner Seng H. Lim

Grant ratio: 60.7% (87th percentile in Art Unit 3715 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.22. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 60.7%
Average office actions / grant 2.22
Compared with Art unit Very easy
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO About average

Examiner record

Examiner ID
83901
Primary art unit
3715
Work group
3710
Technology center
3700
Applications
1,021
Granted applications
620
Examiner phone
(571) 270-3301
Supervisor
David L. Lewis
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-7673

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 79 33.7% 2.29
Group 173 39.0% 2.15
Tech Center 2,671 48.4% 2.01
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.18 2,229 office actions across 1,021 applications
Applications with office actions 99.5% 1,016 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 5 0.5%
1 OA 461 45.2%
2 OAs 248 24.3%
3 OAs 133 13.0%
4 OAs 83 8.1%
5+ OAs 91 8.9%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 15.0% 2008 2009: 35.7% 2009 2010: 37.9% 2010 2011: 46.5% 2011 2012: 56.9% 2012 2013: 77.8% 2013 2014: 67.4% 2014 2015: 71.1% 2015 2016: 79.0% 2016 2017: 61.3% 2017 2018: 65.0% 2018 2019: 75.4% 2019 2020: 79.1% 2020 2021: 78.8% 2021 2022: 76.6% 2022 2023: 76.7% 2023 2024: 76.8% 2024 2025: 38.2% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
200840615.0%
2009421535.7%
2010291137.9%
2011432046.5%
2012512956.9%
2013544277.8%
2014463167.4%
2015382771.1%
2016624979.0%
2017623861.3%
2018603965.0%
2019654975.4%
2020675379.1%
2021665278.8%
2022644976.6%
2023604676.7%
2024564376.8%
2025552138.2%
20266100.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 1,016 3.5% 17.7% 51.9% 0.8%
Action 2 555 5.0% 13.7% 65.2% 0.4%
Action 3 307 1.6% 10.7% 75.2% 0.3%
Action 4 174 2.3% 8.0% 80.5% 1.7%
Action 5 91 3.3% 13.2% 75.8% 2.2%
Action 6 43 2.3% 9.3% 83.7% 0.0%
Action 7 21 9.5% 4.8% 81.0% 4.8%
Action 8 13 7.7% 0.0% 92.3% 0.0%
Action 9 6 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 10 3 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 5.7% 19 of 331 office actions
All years 3.6% 80 of 2,229 office actions
Change +2.2 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%
1.0%
1.5%
0.0%
0.0%
2014: Alice
3.2%
5.4%
4.1%
10.0%
8.3%
2019: PEG
4.8%
2.3%
4.6%
6.3%
2.0%
2024: AI examples
3.0%
2025: August memo
4.9%
12.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 17. Merits outcomes: 7 affirmed, 6 affirmed in part, and 4 reversed.

Full reversal rate
23.5% 4/17 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
58.8% 10/17 decisions
Median appeal duration
27.0 months
New grounds of rejection
2
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Sep. 30, 2020 14/513,302 Affirmed §102 · §103
Mar. 13, 2017 12/904,053 Reversed New ground of rejection §103 · §112
Mar. 15, 2016 12/907,555 Affirmed §102
Aug. 3, 2015 12/717,126 Affirmed N/A
Feb. 20, 2015 12/295,595 Reversed N/A
Jan. 12, 2015 11/588,679 Affirmed in part §103
Jul. 31, 2014 11/790,148 Affirmed N/A
Dec. 30, 2013 10/544,327 Affirmed in part New ground of rejection §101 · §103 · §112
Jun. 24, 2013 11/364,343 Affirmed in part N/A
Jun. 5, 2013 11/167,222 Reversed §103
May. 22, 2013 10/575,387 Affirmed in part §103
Mar. 21, 2013 10/956,644 Affirmed in part §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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