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Examiner Hee Soo Kim

TECH CENTER 2400 · 2 ART UNITS · 711 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION JUL 2026
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 2 ART UNITS
83%vs 73% weighted peer average+10 pts

Examiner Hee Soo Kim has allowed 592 of 711 decided applications.

592 allowed
119 abandoned
Plus 41 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.
The weighted peer average (73%) is each art unit's average below, weighted by this examiner's applications in it (2 art units).
DATA UPDATED JULY 22, 2026
AU 2457 · 76%AU 2443 · 95%

What the data says.reading this examiner

Hee Soo Kim maintains an 83% allowance rate across hundreds of decided applications in Technology Center 2400. The examiner's record spans 2 art units. The allowance rate ranges from 76% to 95% across these art units. This pooled figure represents the share of applications that were allowed among all decided applications (allowed and abandoned combined) across the examiner's art-unit portfolio. The range reflects variation in allowance rates among the individual art units within the examiner's assignment.

How to read these numbers.

A pooled record aggregates data across multiple art units, presenting an overall allowance rate rather than unit-specific figures. This aggregate describes the examiner's past record and is correlational data only—it is not a prediction of any specific application's outcome. Individual art units may show different allowance rates. Understanding that an overall figure masks unit-level variation is important when evaluating a particular application's procedural history.

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.2 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 2457
433 APPS · 76% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

76%
higher than about 28% of the 39 examiners with published rates in art unit 2457
AU avg 76%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 39 examiners with published rates in art unit 2457; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 40 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 39 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition433 decided applications

329 allowed
104 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 22.7mo
disposed 38.9mo
0
48mo
Art-unit average: first action 21.9 mo, disposed 39.3 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 39
50%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
69%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 73
70%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
38%

Interview benefit

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

without
76%
1 pt
with
75%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 117 decided applications with an interview and 316 without.

ART UNIT 2443
319 APPS · 95% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

95%
higher than about 84% of the 45 examiners with published rates in art unit 2443
AU avg 69%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 45 examiners with published rates in art unit 2443; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average.

Disposition278 decided applications

263 allowed
Plus 41 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 16.6mo
disposed 23.5mo
0
24mo
Art-unit average: first action 23.1 mo, disposed 40.7 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 37
33%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
63%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 77
72%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
38%

Interview benefit

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

without
96%
5 pts
with
91%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 75 decided applications with an interview and 203 without.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner Hee Soo Kim

  • What is Hee Soo Kim's overall allowance rate?
    The examiner's allowance rate is 83%, calculated across hundreds of decided applications pooled from all assigned art units.
  • How many art units does this examiner cover?
    The examiner's record spans 2 art units within Technology Center 2400.
  • What range of allowance rates appears across the examiner's art units?
    The allowance rate ranges from 76% to 95% across the examiner's art units.
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METHODOLOGY & DISCLOSURES

Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner Hee Soo Kim 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: 752 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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