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Examiner Derrick W Ferris

TECH CENTER 2400 · 3 ART UNITS · 69 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION JUL 2026
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 3 ART UNITS
25%vs 75% weighted peer average50 pts

Examiner Derrick W Ferris has allowed 17 of 69 decided applications.

17 allowed
52 abandoned
Plus 16 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.
The weighted peer average (75%) is each art unit's average below, weighted by this examiner's applications in it (3 art units).
DATA UPDATED JULY 22, 2026
AU 2411 · 89%AU 2463 · 3%AU 2478 · 0%

What the data says.reading this examiner

Derrick W Ferris maintains a pooled allowance rate of 25% across dozens of decided applications in Technology Center 2400. His record spans three art units: 2411, 2463, and 2478. The allowance rate—the percentage of decided applications (allowed and abandoned combined, excluding pending cases)—reflects outcomes across this multi-unit portfolio. Allowance rates vary among the individual art units, ranging from 3% to 89%. This spread reflects differences in application characteristics, statutory requirements, and examination outcomes across the distinct art-unit categories within the technology center.

How to read these numbers.

This examiner's record is pooled across multiple art units, meaning the overall 25% figure aggregates applications from different subject areas and examination contexts. A pooled allowance rate describes past outcomes and does not serve as a prediction for any specific pending application. Individual art units may show materially different allowance rates. Understanding both the aggregate figure and the range across units provides context for the examiner's historical record, though each application is examined on its own merits.

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 →

The record, art unit by art unit.3 art units

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 2411
34 APPS · 89% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

89%
higher than about 68% of the 25 examiners with published rates in art unit 2411
AU avg 76%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 25 examiners with published rates in art unit 2411; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average.

Disposition18 decided applications

16 allowed
Plus 16 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 23.8mo
disposed 41.2mo
0
48mo
Art-unit average: first action 21 mo, disposed 38.4 mo.

Rejection groundsexaminer ● vs art-unit average ○

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 eligibility
AU 26
13%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
77%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 86
84%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
35%

Based on 34 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

ART UNIT 2463
33 APPS · 3% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

3%
higher than about 3% of the 34 examiners with published rates in art unit 2463
AU avg 76%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 34 examiners with published rates in art unit 2463; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average.

Disposition33 decided applications

32 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 29.3mo
disposed 41.9mo
0
48mo
Art-unit average: first action 23.2 mo, disposed 36.3 mo.

Rejection groundsexaminer ● vs art-unit average ○

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 eligibility
AU 21
50%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
63%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 81
100%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
0%

Based on 33 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

ART UNIT 2478
18 APPS · 0% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

0%
higher than about 0% of the 35 examiners with published rates in art unit 2478
AU avg 70%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 35 examiners with published rates in art unit 2478; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 36 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 35 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition18 decided applications

18 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 28.3mo
disposed 58.1mo
0
60mo
Art-unit average: first action 24.7 mo, disposed 42.7 mo.

Rejection groundsexaminer ● vs art-unit average ○

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 eligibility
AU 25
27%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
55%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 89
91%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
45%

Based on 18 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner Derrick W Ferris

  • What is Derrick W Ferris's overall allowance rate?
    The pooled allowance rate is 25% across decided applications in Technology Center 2400. This represents the share of allowed applications among all decided (allowed and abandoned) cases, excluding pending applications.
  • How many art units does this examiner cover?
    Derrick W Ferris has a record spanning three art units: 2411, 2463, and 2478, all within Technology Center 2400.
  • Do allowance rates differ across his art units?
    Yes. Allowance rates range from 3% to 89% across the individual art units in this examiner's portfolio, reflecting variation in outcomes within different art-unit categories.
  • What does the pooled rate tell me about my application?
    The pooled 25% figure is a historical aggregate and is not a prediction of any specific application's outcome. Each application receives individualized examination based on its own facts, claims, and applicable law.
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METHODOLOGY & DISCLOSURES

Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner Derrick W Ferris has a public record within Technology Center 2400. Statistics are computed from publicly available USPTO records, refreshed on a recurring schedule. This page's data was last updated July 22, 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: 85 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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