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Examiner Hee-Yong Kim

TECH CENTER 2400 · 1 ART UNIT · 584 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION DEC 2020
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 1 ART UNIT
78%vs 66% art-unit average+12 pts
higher than about 66% of the 35 examiners with published rates in art unit 2482
AU avg 66%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 35 examiners with published rates in art unit 2482; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 45 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 35 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Examiner Hee-Yong Kim has allowed 458 of 584 decided applications.

458 allowed
126 abandoned
No applications pending.
DATA UPDATED JULY 22, 2026

What the data says.reading this examiner

Hee-Yong Kim maintains a public record in Technology Center 2400 across 1 art unit. Across hundreds of decided applications, the examiner's allowance rate is 78%. This rate reflects the percentage of applications that were allowed or abandoned among all decided applications in the examiner's pooled record. The allowance rate is calculated from decided applications only and does not include pending applications. This pooled figure aggregates the examiner's activity across all assigned art units and represents the historical record of dispositions.

How to read these numbers.

A pooled record aggregates data across multiple art units when an examiner works in more than one. The allowance rate presented here is a historical average across all the examiner's assigned art units and does not vary by unit within this pooled view. Aggregate figures describe past outcomes and are correlational summaries; they are not predictions of the outcome of any particular application. Individual art-unit records, where available separately, may show variation within the examiner's overall practice.

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.1 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 2482
584 APPS · 78% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

78%
higher than about 66% of the 35 examiners with published rates in art unit 2482
AU avg 66%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 35 examiners with published rates in art unit 2482; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 45 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 35 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition584 decided applications

458 allowed
126 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 25.9mo
disposed 38.7mo
0
48mo
Art-unit average: first action 21.7 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 13
28%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
51%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 79
81%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
43%

Interview benefit

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

without
75%
+17 pts
with
92%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 111 decided applications with an interview and 473 without.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner Hee-Yong Kim

  • What is Examiner Kim's overall allowance rate?
    The allowance rate is 78%, calculated as the percentage of allowed and abandoned applications among all decided applications in the examiner's pooled record across all art units.
  • How many art units does this examiner work in?
    Examiner Kim is assigned to 1 art unit. This pooled record aggregates the examiner's activity across that single art unit.
  • What does the allowance rate tell me about my application?
    The allowance rate is a historical summary and is not a prediction of any specific application's outcome. It reflects past dispositions and does not account for the particular merits, amendments, or prosecution strategy of any individual case.
  • How large is the sample of decided applications?
    The allowance rate is based on hundreds of decided applications pooled across all art units.
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Where to go next.

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METHODOLOGY & DISCLOSURES

Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner Hee-Yong 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: 584 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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