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Examiner Randall Whitman Burns

TECH CENTER 2100 · 2 ART UNITS · 62 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION APR 2014
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 2 ART UNITS
48%vs 56% weighted peer average8 pts

Examiner Randall Whitman Burns has allowed 30 of 62 decided applications in Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security.

allowed30abandoned32pending0· pending excluded from the rate
The weighted peer average (56%) is each art unit's average below, weighted by this examiner's applications in it (2 art units).
DATA UPDATED JULY 14, 2026
AU 2157 · 52%AU 2154 · 25%
// READING THIS EXAMINER

What the data says.

Randall Whitman Burns maintains a public record across 2 art units in Technology Center 2100 (Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security). Across dozens of decided applications, his allowance rate stands at 48%, meaning that of all applications with final dispositions (allowed or abandoned), 48% received allowance. The remaining share resulted in abandonment. This pooled figure aggregates outcomes from both art units and represents the examiner's historical record without distinction between individual art-unit performance.

// HOW TO READ THESE NUMBERS

How to read these numbers.

A pooled record combines data from multiple art units into a single aggregate allowance rate. This figure describes past outcomes across all applications the examiner decided, regardless of which art unit each application belonged to. The aggregate allowance rate is a historical summary and is not a prediction about any specific application. Individual art-unit records, where available separately, may differ from the pooled rate.

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 2157
54 APPS · 52% ALLOWANCE

Primarily examines information retrieval and database structures.

52% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 55%
DISPOSITION28 / 26 / 0allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION23.9 moart unit avg 28 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY50.7 moart unit avg 46.6 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 48%+1 pt
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)64%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness96%art unit 85%+11 pts
§112 — Written description & definiteness70%no art-unit benchmark
// INTERVIEW SPLIT

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

WITH INTERVIEW58%allowance share
WITHOUT INTERVIEW47%+11 pt difference

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 24 decided applications with an interview and 30 without.

ART UNIT 2154
8 APPS · 25% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Primarily examines information retrieval and database structures.

25% allowance (of decided)▏ art-unit average 58%
DISPOSITION2 / 6 / 0allowed / abandoned / pending
FIRST ACTION24.4 moart unit avg 27.1 mo
TOTAL PENDENCY32.4 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 eligibility63%art unit 55%+8 pts
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)50%no art-unit benchmark
§103 — Obviousness88%art unit 87%+1 pt
§112 — Written description & definiteness63%no art-unit benchmark

Based on 8 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner Randall Whitman Burns

  • What is Examiner Burns's overall allowance rate?
    His pooled allowance rate across all art units is 48%, calculated from decided applications (those with final allowance or abandonment dispositions). Pending applications are excluded from this calculation.
  • How many art units does Examiner Burns work in?
    Examiner Burns has a public record spanning 2 art units within TC 2100.
  • How large is the sample underlying this allowance rate?
    The pooled allowance rate is based on dozens of decided applications across both art units.
  • Does this allowance rate predict the outcome of my application?
    No. Historical allowance rates describe past decisions and are not predictions of future outcomes on any specific application.
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METHODOLOGY & DISCLOSURES

Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner Randall Whitman Burns 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: 62 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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