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Examiner Paul M Knight

TECH CENTER 2100 · 3 ART UNITS · 316 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION JUN 2026
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 3 ART UNITS
66%vs 65% weighted peer average+1 pt

Examiner Paul M Knight has allowed 208 of 316 decided applications in Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security.

allowed208abandoned108pending41· pending excluded from the rate
The weighted peer average (65%) is each art unit's average below, weighted by this examiner's applications in it (3 art units).
DATA UPDATED JULY 14, 2026
AU 2139 · 63%AU 2148 · 80%AU 2124 · 70%
// READING THIS EXAMINER

What the data says.

Paul M Knight maintains a 66% allowance rate across hundreds of decided applications in Technology Center 2100 (Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security). His record spans three art units within this technology center. The allowance rate ranges from 63% to 80% across these art units, reflecting variation in the decided-application profile within each unit. This pooled figure represents all allowed and abandoned applications and does not include pending matters. The allowance rate is a historical record and is not a prediction of any specific application's outcome.

// HOW TO READ THESE NUMBERS

How to read these numbers.

This pooled record aggregates applications across multiple art units within TC 2100. The overall allowance rate describes past decisions on applications that have been resolved (allowed or abandoned). Because the record combines different art units, the pooled figure does not reflect the examiner's performance in any single art unit. Variation among art units is captured in the reported range. The data is historical and does not predict the disposition of any pending or future application.

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 2139
240 APPS · 63% ALLOWANCE

Primarily examines input/output (I/O) data transfer, and memory access and allocation.

63% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 65%
DISPOSITION152 / 88 / 0allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION17.5 moart unit avg 24 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY37.3 moart unit avg 37.7 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 eligibility29%art unit 21%+8 pts
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)88%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness97%art unit 80%+17 pts
§112 — Written description & definiteness88%no art-unit benchmark
// INTERVIEW SPLIT

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

WITH INTERVIEW66%allowance share
WITHOUT INTERVIEW58%+8 pt difference

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 156 decided applications with an interview and 84 without.

ART UNIT 2148
71 APPS · 80% ALLOWANCE

Primarily examines neural-network / biological-model computing, and machine learning.

80% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 65%
DISPOSITION24 / 6 / 41allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION33.1 moart unit avg 29.6 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY50.4 moart unit avg 42.4 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 eligibility68%art unit 70%2 pts
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)94%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness96%art unit 89%+7 pts
§112 — Written description & definiteness94%no art-unit benchmark
ART UNIT 2124
46 APPS · 70% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Primarily examines neural-network / biological-model computing, and machine learning.

70% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 64%
DISPOSITION32 / 14 / 0allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION28.4 moart unit avg 28.5 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY42.7 moart unit avg 41.8 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 eligibility45%art unit 61%16 pts
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)95%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness100%art unit 88%+12 pts
§112 — Written description & definiteness95%no art-unit benchmark

Based on 46 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner Paul M Knight

  • What is Paul M Knight's overall allowance rate?
    His pooled allowance rate is 66% across hundreds of decided applications in TC 2100. This represents the share of all allowed applications among all applications that have been resolved (allowed or abandoned), regardless of pending cases.
  • How many art units does this record cover?
    The record spans three art units within Technology Center 2100 (Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security).
  • What is the range of allowance rates across his art units?
    The allowance rate ranges from 63% to 80% across these art units, indicating variation in the resolved-application profile within each unit.
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METHODOLOGY & DISCLOSURES

Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner Paul M Knight 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: 357 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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