Examiner Andrew T. Kirsch

Grant ratio: 46.6% (59th percentile in Art Unit 3781 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.60. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 46.6%
Average office actions / grant 2.60
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center Very hard
Compared with USPTO Very hard

Examiner record

Examiner ID
85540
Primary art unit
3781
Work group
3780
Technology center
3700
Applications
1,020
Granted applications
475
Examiner phone
(571) 270-5723
Supervisor
Nathan Jenness
Supervisor phone
(571) 270-5055

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 56 46.0% 2.06
Group 297 41.7% 1.90
Tech Center 2,671 48.4% 2.01
USPTO 16,475 52.7% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 2.31 2,355 office actions across 1,020 applications
Applications with office actions 99.0% 1,010 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 10 1.0%
1 OA 398 39.0%
2 OAs 303 29.7%
3 OAs 108 10.6%
4 OAs 104 10.2%
5+ OAs 97 9.5%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2008: 0.0% 2008 2009: 13.6% 2009 2010: 18.2% 2010 2011: 26.4% 2011 2012: 50.0% 2012 2013: 52.5% 2013 2014: 43.1% 2014 2015: 49.1% 2015 2016: 40.7% 2016 2017: 60.3% 2017 2018: 52.3% 2018 2019: 61.0% 2019 2020: 72.9% 2020 2021: 67.2% 2021 2022: 73.7% 2022 2023: 60.0% 2023 2024: 57.8% 2024 2025: 37.8% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20081000.0%
200959813.6%
2010551018.2%
2011531426.4%
2012562850.0%
2013613252.5%
2014512243.1%
2015532649.1%
2016542240.7%
2017684160.3%
2018442352.3%
2019774761.0%
2020594372.9%
2021614167.2%
2022574273.7%
2023603660.0%
2024452657.8%
2025371437.8%
20266000.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 1,010 0.3% 16.3% 78.6% 0.7%
Action 2 612 0.2% 12.3% 85.1% 0.2%
Action 3 309 0.0% 10.4% 86.7% 2.3%
Action 4 201 0.0% 7.0% 91.5% 1.0%
Action 5 97 0.0% 4.1% 94.8% 1.0%
Action 6 54 0.0% 5.6% 90.7% 3.7%
Action 7 29 0.0% 17.2% 72.4% 10.3%
Action 8 12 0.0% 16.7% 83.3% 0.0%
Action 9 10 0.0% 10.0% 90.0% 0.0%
Action 10 6 0.0% 16.7% 83.3% 0.0%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 0.0% 0 of 337 office actions
All years 0.2% 4 of 2,355 office actions
Change -0.2 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%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.7%
2014: Alice
0.8%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2019: PEG
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2.2%
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: 17. Merits outcomes: 4 affirmed, 4 affirmed in part, and 9 reversed.

Full reversal rate
52.9% 9/17 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
76.5% 13/17 decisions
Median appeal duration
26.8 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Aug. 5, 2026 18/231,095 Reversed §103
Dec. 18, 2024 15/944,536 Reversed §102
Aug. 31, 2022 16/316,812 Affirmed §103
Dec. 27, 2018 13/381,251 Affirmed §102
Dec. 21, 2017 13/101,916 Reversed §103
Nov. 29, 2017 14/213,362 Reversed §103 · §112
Nov. 15, 2017 12/921,491 Affirmed in part §103
Feb. 21, 2017 12/326,331 Affirmed in part §103 · §112
Jul. 21, 2016 11/705,028 Affirmed §103
May. 26, 2016 12/243,742 Reversed §102 · §103 · §112
May. 5, 2016 12/961,615 Reversed §103
Apr. 11, 2016 11/639,004 Reversed §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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