Examiner Frances F. Hamilton

Grant ratio: 50.6% (50th percentile in Art Unit 3749 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.18. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 50.6%
Average office actions / grant 2.18
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group Very hard
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO Very hard

Examiner record

Examiner ID
85537
Primary art unit
3749
Work group
3740
Technology center
3700
Applications
682
Granted applications
345
Examiner phone
(571) 270-5726

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 34 49.5% 2.05
Group 443 57.4% 1.86
Tech Center 2,685 47.8% 2.01
USPTO 16,620 51.8% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.14 1,458 office actions across 682 applications
Applications with office actions 96.8% 660 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 22 3.2%
1 OA 279 40.9%
2 OAs 187 27.4%
3 OAs 78 11.4%
4 OAs 59 8.7%
5+ OAs 57 8.4%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 16.7% 2008 2009: 22.9% 2009 2010: 45.7% 2010 2011: 39.5% 2011 2012: 40.0% 2012 2013: 54.8% 2013 2014: 56.8% 2014 2015: 66.7% 2015 2016: 45.5% 2016 2017: 49.0% 2017 2018: 62.7% 2018 2019: 51.0% 2019 2020: 65.4% 2020 2021: 52.4% 2021 2022: 76.9% 2022 2023: 72.2% 2023 2024: 68.4% 2024 2025: 20.8% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20086116.7%
200935822.9%
2010351645.7%
2011431739.5%
2012351440.0%
2013422354.8%
2014442556.8%
2015483266.7%
2016331545.5%
2017492449.0%
2018513262.7%
2019492551.0%
2020261765.4%
2021422252.4%
2022393076.9%
2023362672.2%
2024191368.4%
202524520.8%
20262600.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 660 0.8% 5.3% 83.2% 8.3%
Action 2 381 0.0% 3.9% 86.1% 7.6%
Action 3 194 0.5% 3.1% 83.0% 6.7%
Action 4 116 0.0% 1.7% 87.9% 7.8%
Action 5 57 0.0% 0.0% 84.2% 8.8%
Action 6 28 0.0% 0.0% 85.7% 7.1%
Action 7 13 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 8 7 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 9 2 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 146 office actions
All years 0.4% 6 of 1,458 office actions
Change -0.4 pts Percentage points

Last 3 years: 2023-10-23–2026-10-23. All years includes every dated office action in the data.

By year

0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.0%
2014: Alice
1.1%
4.1%
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: 11. Merits outcomes: 5 affirmed, 1 affirmed in part, and 5 reversed.

Full reversal rate
45.5% 5/11 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
54.5% 6/11 decisions
Median appeal duration
26.3 months
New grounds of rejection
2
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Apr. 26, 2024 15/395,152 Affirmed §103 · §112
Jul. 17, 2019 12/712,695 Affirmed §103
May. 21, 2018 13/307,349 Reversed §103 · §112
Sep. 27, 2017 12/653,242 Affirmed in part New ground of rejection §102 · §103
Jul. 26, 2017 12/822,307 Reversed §103
Jul. 12, 2016 11/763,427 Reversed §103 · §112
Sep. 23, 2015 11/893,242 Reversed N/A
Sep. 18, 2015 11/897,594 Affirmed New ground of rejection N/A
Jun. 28, 2013 11/565,252 Affirmed §103
Sep. 27, 2012 11/600,888 Reversed N/A
Sep. 9, 2012 11/888,489 Affirmed §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 Oct. 30, 2026.

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