Examiner Mary J Steelman has allowed 117 of 149 decided applications in Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security.
Mary J Steelman maintains a record across 2 art units within Technology Center 2100 (Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security). Across hundreds of decided applications, the examiner's allowance rate is 79%. This rate reflects the share of applications that were allowed among all decided applications (allowed and abandoned combined), and does not include pending applications. The allowance rate is based on the examiner's pooled record across all assigned art units.
This profile presents a pooled record aggregating applications across multiple art units. Aggregate figures describe the examiner's historical record and reflect outcomes across different subject areas within TC 2100. Pooled allowance rates are descriptive statistics of past decisions and are not predictions about the outcome of any specific application. Individual art-unit data, where available separately, may differ from the pooled figure.
These are aggregate statistics from this examiner's past public record — not predictions about any specific application. The per-art-unit figures below show how the record varies across art units. Our approach to patent prosecution →
Each section benchmarks this examiner against that art unit's average. Figures are this examiner's own public record within the art unit; the overall rate above pools them.
Primarily examines software engineering, and error detection, correction, and monitoring.
Allowance rate for applications with an examiner interview versus without one.
A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 56 decided applications with an interview and 88 without.
Primarily examines neural-network / biological-model computing, and machine learning.
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Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner Mary J Steelman has a public record within Technology Center 2100. Statistics are computed from publicly available USPTO records, refreshed on a recurring schedule. This page's data was last updated July 14, 2026. The overall allowance rate is total allowed divided by total decided applications (allowed plus abandoned) across all art units — not an average of the per-art-unit rates; pending applications are excluded. Figures are rounded for display. Pooled sample: 149 applications.
Rejection rates. Each §-rate is the share of this examiner's applications that drew at least one office-action rejection in which that statutory ground appears; applications with no rejection on record are excluded, and because grounds can co-occur the four do not sum to 100%. The art-unit figure beside each is the unweighted mean of the per-examiner rates across the art unit, published for §101 and §103 only. Beside the overall allowance rate we show a benchmark: for a single-art-unit examiner it is exactly that art unit's average, labeled “art-unit average”; for an examiner spanning several art units it is the “weighted peer average” — the per-art-unit averages, weighted by this examiner's application count in each — labeled distinctly because it is a blended figure, not any single art unit's average. Both are built from the same per-art-unit averages the panels show.
Lynch LLP is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Examiner statistics are derived from publicly available USPTO data.
These statistics describe past examiner behavior and do not predict the outcome of any particular application. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Where this page compares an examiner's allowance rate to an art-unit average, that comparison is a factual description of the public record, not a characterization of any individual examiner's conduct or competence.
This page is for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by viewing it. Full disclaimers →
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