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◈ USPTO PATENT EXAMINER STATISTICS

Examiner Nan Hutton

TECH CENTER 2100 · 5 ART UNITS · 246 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION JAN 2025
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 5 ART UNITS
71%vs 57% weighted peer average+14 pts

Examiner Nan Hutton has allowed 175 of 246 decided applications in Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security.

allowed175abandoned71pending0· pending excluded from the rate
The weighted peer average (57%) is each art unit's average below, weighted by this examiner's applications in it (5 art units).
DATA UPDATED JULY 14, 2026
AU 2154 · 75%AU 2169 · 53%AU 2163 · 91%AU 2155 · 20%AU 2152 · 100%
// READING THIS EXAMINER

What the data says.

Examiner Nan Hutton maintains a pooled allowance rate of 71% across hundreds of decided applications in Technology Center 2100 (Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security). The examiner's record spans five art units: 2152, 2154, 2155, 2163, and 2169. Allowance rates across these art units range from 53% to 91%, reflecting variation in the examiner's decisions within TC 2100. This pooled figure represents the share of applications that were allowed among all decided (allowed and abandoned) applications in the examiner's record.

// HOW TO READ THESE NUMBERS

How to read these numbers.

This pooled record aggregates the examiner's decisions across multiple art units within TC 2100 into a single overall statistic. The 71% allowance rate describes the examiner's past record and is a summary of historical decisions, not a prediction of any specific application's outcome. Variation across individual art units means that allowance rates may differ by subject matter within the technology center. Pooled figures are most useful for understanding broad patterns in an examiner's record.

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 →

// BY ART UNIT

The record, art unit by art unit.

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.

◈ PRIMARY · ART UNIT 2154
137 APPS · 75% ALLOWANCE

Primarily examines information retrieval and database structures.

75% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 58%
DISPOSITION103 / 34 / 0allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION24.4 moart unit avg 27.1 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY50.4 moart unit avg 41.9 mo
// REJECTION PROFILE
REJECTION RATE = SHARE OF THIS EXAMINER'S APPLICATIONS THAT DREW ≥1 OFFICE-ACTION REJECTION IN WHICH THE GROUND APPEARS

Grounds can co-occur, so the four don't sum to 100%. The art-unit figure is the unweighted mean across examiners in the art unit; §102 and §112 carry no art-unit benchmark.

§101 — Subject-matter eligibility49%art unit 55%6 pts
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)67%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness94%art unit 87%+7 pts
§112 — Written description & definiteness9%no art-unit benchmark
// INTERVIEW SPLIT

Allowance rate for applications with an examiner interview versus without one.

WITH INTERVIEW86%allowance share
WITHOUT INTERVIEW50%+36 pt difference

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 95 decided applications with an interview and 42 without.

ART UNIT 2169
53 APPS · 53% ALLOWANCE

Primarily examines information retrieval and database structures.

53% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 47%
DISPOSITION28 / 25 / 0allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION20.4 moart unit avg 24.8 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY39.5 moart unit avg 40 mo
// REJECTION PROFILE
REJECTION RATE = SHARE OF THIS EXAMINER'S APPLICATIONS THAT DREW ≥1 OFFICE-ACTION REJECTION IN WHICH THE GROUND APPEARS

Grounds can co-occur, so the four don't sum to 100%. The art-unit figure is the unweighted mean across examiners in the art unit; §102 and §112 carry no art-unit benchmark.

§101 — Subject-matter eligibility71%art unit 57%+14 pts
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)49%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness94%art unit 88%+6 pts
§112 — Written description & definiteness12%no art-unit benchmark
// INTERVIEW SPLIT

Allowance rate for applications with an examiner interview versus without one.

WITH INTERVIEW94%allowance share
WITHOUT INTERVIEW31%+63 pt difference

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 18 decided applications with an interview and 35 without.

ART UNIT 2163
44 APPS · 91% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Primarily examines information retrieval and database structures.

91% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 64%
DISPOSITION40 / 4 / 0allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION21.3 moart unit avg 23.5 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY34.5 moart unit avg 40.3 mo
// REJECTION PROFILE
REJECTION RATE = SHARE OF THIS EXAMINER'S APPLICATIONS THAT DREW ≥1 OFFICE-ACTION REJECTION IN WHICH THE GROUND APPEARS

Grounds can co-occur, so the four don't sum to 100%. The art-unit figure is the unweighted mean across examiners in the art unit; §102 and §112 carry no art-unit benchmark.

§101 — Subject-matter eligibility44%art unit 51%7 pts
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)74%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness82%art unit 77%+5 pts
§112 — Written description & definiteness3%no art-unit benchmark

Based on 44 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

ART UNIT 2155
10 APPS · 20% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Primarily examines information retrieval and database structures.

20% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 55%
DISPOSITION2 / 8 / 0allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION26.2 moart unit avg 27.5 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY34.1 moart unit avg 42.2 mo
// REJECTION PROFILE
REJECTION RATE = SHARE OF THIS EXAMINER'S APPLICATIONS THAT DREW ≥1 OFFICE-ACTION REJECTION IN WHICH THE GROUND APPEARS

Grounds can co-occur, so the four don't sum to 100%. The art-unit figure is the unweighted mean across examiners in the art unit; §102 and §112 carry no art-unit benchmark.

§101 — Subject-matter eligibility100%art unit 46%+54 pts
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)70%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness90%art unit 81%+9 pts
§112 — Written description & definiteness10%no art-unit benchmark

Based on 10 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

ART UNIT 2152
2 APPS · 100% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Primarily examines information retrieval and database structures.

100% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 49%
DISPOSITION2 / 0 / 0allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION28.2 moart unit avg 28.8 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY40.7 moart unit avg 42.9 mo
// REJECTION PROFILE
REJECTION RATE = SHARE OF THIS EXAMINER'S APPLICATIONS THAT DREW ≥1 OFFICE-ACTION REJECTION IN WHICH THE GROUND APPEARS

Grounds can co-occur, so the four don't sum to 100%. The art-unit figure is the unweighted mean across examiners in the art unit; §102 and §112 carry no art-unit benchmark.

§101 — Subject-matter eligibility0%art unit 62%62 pts
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)100%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness100%art unit 88%+12 pts
§112 — Written description & definiteness0%no art-unit benchmark

Based on 2 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner Nan Hutton

  • What is Examiner Nan Hutton's overall allowance rate?
    The examiner's pooled allowance rate is 71% across hundreds of decided applications in TC 2100.
  • How many art units does this examiner cover?
    The examiner has a substantial record across five art units: 2152, 2154, 2155, 2163, and 2169.
  • Do allowance rates vary across the examiner's art units?
    Yes. Allowance rates among the examiner's art units range from 53% to 91%, reflecting differences in the examiner's decisions within TC 2100.
  • Is the 71% rate a prediction for my application?
    No. The pooled allowance rate is a historical summary of decided applications and is not a prediction of any specific application's outcome.
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METHODOLOGY & DISCLOSURES

Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner Nan Hutton 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: 246 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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