Examiner Eric Messersmith

Grant ratio: 64.3% (90th percentile in Art Unit 3791 among examiners with at least 20 applications). Average office actions per grant: 1.94. Most common rejection type: §103.

Recently active Last office action in data: October 2026
Grant ratio 64.3%
Average office actions / grant 1.94
Compared with Art unit Very easy
Compared with Work group Very easy
Compared with Technology center Very easy
Compared with USPTO Very easy

Examiner record

Examiner ID
87228
Primary art unit
3791
Work group
3790
Technology center
3700
Applications
751
Granted applications
483
Examiner phone
(571) 270-7081
Supervisor
Jacqueline Cheng
Supervisor phone
(571) 272-5596

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Peer comparisons

GroupExaminersAverage grant ratioAverage office actions / grant
Art Unit 104 34.5% 2.08
Group 338 38.6% 2.26
Tech Center 2,685 47.8% 2.01
USPTO 16,620 51.8% 1.98

Office actions per application

Average office actions per application 1.91 1,437 office actions across 751 applications
Applications with office actions 98.1% 737 applications
Office actionsApplicationsShare of applications
No OA observed 14 1.9%
1 OA 385 51.3%
2 OAs 174 23.2%
3 OAs 84 11.2%
4 OAs 54 7.2%
5+ OAs 40 5.3%

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

Grant history

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0% 2010: 50.0% 2010 2011: 29.6% 2011 2012: 43.6% 2012 2013: 54.8% 2013 2014: 64.8% 2014 2015: 54.5% 2015 2016: 66.7% 2016 2017: 68.5% 2017 2018: 77.5% 2018 2019: 71.0% 2019 2020: 72.9% 2020 2021: 78.0% 2021 2022: 81.5% 2022 2023: 81.6% 2023 2024: 88.1% 2024 2025: 45.7% 2025 2026: 0.0% 2026

Recent ratios may be lower while applications remain pending.

Yearly counts
YearApplicationsGrantsGrant rate
20102150.0%
201127829.6%
2012391743.6%
2013422354.8%
2014543564.8%
2015331854.5%
2016543666.7%
2017543768.5%
2018715577.5%
2019694971.0%
2020483572.9%
2021413278.0%
2022655381.5%
2023383181.6%
2024423788.1%
2025351645.7%
20263700.0%

Rejections by office-action stage

Office-action stageActions observed§101§102§103§112
Action 1 737 1.9% 10.3% 71.2% 10.7%
Action 2 352 3.4% 9.9% 71.9% 11.6%
Action 3 178 5.6% 2.8% 75.8% 14.0%
Action 4 94 6.4% 3.2% 75.5% 11.7%
Action 5 40 2.5% 7.5% 75.0% 15.0%
Action 6 21 4.8% 0.0% 85.7% 9.5%
Action 7 9 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Action 8 3 33.3% 0.0% 66.7% 0.0%
Action 9 3 33.3% 0.0% 33.3% 33.3%

Section 101 rejections

Last 3 years 1.7% 3 of 174 office actions
All years 3.2% 46 of 1,437 office actions
Change -1.5 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%
14.3%
0.0%
0.0%
1.7%
2014: Alice
2.6%
6.2%
7.5%
7.4%
7.3%
2019: PEG
2.1%
3.8%
1.5%
0.0%
1.5%
2024: AI examples
2.8%
2025: August memo
0.0%
0.0%

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

PTAB appeals

Matched decisions: 6. Merits outcomes: 6 affirmed, 0 affirmed in part, and 0 reversed.

Full reversal rate
0.0% 0/6 decisions
Full or partial reversal rate
0.0% 0/6 decisions
Median appeal duration
20.8 months
New grounds of rejection
0
Recent decisions
DecisionApplicationOutcomeIssues
Apr. 29, 2025 16/339,028 Affirmed §103
Jul. 27, 2021 15/034,246 Affirmed §103
Feb. 18, 2020 13/703,704 Affirmed §101 · §102 · §103
Jun. 28, 2019 12/710,430 Affirmed §101 · §103
Dec. 23, 2016 12/718,891 Affirmed §103
Jul. 24, 2015 11/662,610 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 Oct. 30, 2026.

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