Examiner Kathryn E Ditmer

Grant ratio: 51.5% (71st percentile in Art Unit 3785 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 2.26. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: August 2026
Grant ratio 51.5%
Average office actions / grant 2.26
Compared with Art unit About average
Compared with Work group About average
Compared with Technology center About average
Compared with USPTO Very hard

Examiner record

Examiner ID
87832
Primary art unit
3785
Work group
3780
Technology center
3700
Applications
811
Granted applications
418
Examiner phone
(571) 270-5178
Supervisor
Brandy Lee
Supervisor phone
(571) 270-7410

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 83 33.2% 1.75
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 1,871 office actions across 811 applications
Applications with office actions 97.0% 787 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 24 3.0%
1 OA 318 39.2%
2 OAs 226 27.9%
3 OAs 99 12.2%
4 OAs 60 7.4%
5+ OAs 84 10.4%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2011: 30.3% 2011 2012: 47.4% 2012 2013: 44.2% 2013 2014: 51.0% 2014 2015: 56.6% 2015 2016: 73.8% 2016 2017: 56.0% 2017 2018: 58.3% 2018 2019: 65.4% 2019 2020: 60.0% 2020 2021: 62.7% 2021 2022: 60.4% 2022 2023: 63.0% 2023 2024: 58.5% 2024 2025: 27.5% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
2011331030.3%
2012572747.4%
2013522344.2%
2014512651.0%
2015533056.6%
2016614573.8%
2017502856.0%
2018482858.3%
2019523465.4%
2020603660.0%
2021513262.7%
2022533260.4%
2023462963.0%
2024412458.5%
2025511427.5%
20265200.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 787 0.8% 16.1% 69.9% 11.4%
Action 2 469 0.4% 6.2% 80.0% 11.9%
Action 3 243 0.0% 5.8% 88.1% 4.9%
Action 4 144 0.0% 2.8% 91.0% 5.6%
Action 5 84 0.0% 4.8% 81.0% 11.9%
Action 6 55 3.6% 1.8% 83.6% 9.1%
Action 7 30 0.0% 10.0% 80.0% 6.7%
Action 8 21 0.0% 0.0% 90.5% 9.5%
Action 9 12 0.0% 8.3% 75.0% 16.7%
Action 10 9 0.0% 0.0% 88.9% 11.1%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 1.0% 3 of 303 office actions
All years 0.5% 10 of 1,871 office actions
Change +0.5 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%
1.3%
0.0%
2014: Alice
0.0%
0.6%
1.3%
0.0%
0.0%
2019: PEG
1.0%
0.9%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
2024: AI examples
0.0%
2025: August memo
1.8%
1.6%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 12. Merits outcomes: 8 affirmed, 2 affirmed in part, and 2 reversed.

Full reversal rate
16.7% 2/12 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
33.3% 4/12 decisions
Median appeal duration
17.3 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Feb. 20, 2026 17/239,954 Affirmed §102 · §103 · §112 · §120
Jul. 24, 2025 16/913,573 Affirmed §103 · §112 · §120
Oct. 18, 2024 17/076,148 Reversed §103 · §112
Dec. 28, 2018 13/902,265 Affirmed §103 · §112
Jun. 18, 2018 14/430,348 Affirmed in part §102 · §103 · §112
Mar. 26, 2018 13/184,868 Affirmed §103
Jan. 9, 2018 14/012,084 Affirmed §103 · §112
Oct. 18, 2017 13/435,248 Affirmed §102 · §103
Feb. 29, 2016 12/469,227 Affirmed §103
Dec. 28, 2015 12/174,009 Affirmed in part N/A
Aug. 5, 2015 11/576,497 Reversed N/A
Jan. 8, 2015 12/285,586 Affirmed N/A

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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