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◈ USPTO PATENT EXAMINER STATISTICS

Examiner Hong Shao

TECH CENTER 2400 · 1 ART UNIT · 437 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION FEB 2025
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 1 ART UNIT
81%vs 67% art-unit average+14 pts
higher than about 74% of the 27 examiners with published rates in art unit 2461
AU avg 67%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 27 examiners with published rates in art unit 2461; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 29 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 27 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Examiner Hong Shao has allowed 353 of 437 decided applications.

353 allowed
84 abandoned
No applications pending.
DATA UPDATED JULY 22, 2026

What the data says.reading this examiner

Hong Shao maintains an 81% allowance rate across hundreds of decided applications in Technology Center 2400. This rate reflects the proportion of applications that issued as allowed or were abandoned, among all decided cases in the examiner's pooled record. The examiner's practice spans a single art unit. This aggregate figure describes the historical record only and does not constitute a prediction for any particular application.

How to read these numbers.

A pooled record aggregates statistics across all art units where an examiner has worked. The allowance rate shown here combines data from different art-unit assignments and describes past outcomes across that combined set. Aggregate figures are descriptive of the historical record, not predictive of outcomes in any specific case. Individual art units may show different profiles and are detailed separately elsewhere on this page.

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 2461
437 APPS · 81% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

81%
higher than about 74% of the 27 examiners with published rates in art unit 2461
AU avg 67%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 27 examiners with published rates in art unit 2461; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 29 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 27 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition437 decided applications

353 allowed
84 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 19.2mo
disposed 34.5mo
0
36mo
Art-unit average: first action 22.2 mo, disposed 37.6 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 20
14%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
26%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 87
89%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
37%

Interview benefit

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

without
78%
+8 pts
with
86%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 135 decided applications with an interview and 302 without.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner Hong Shao

  • What is Hong Shao's allowance rate?
    The allowance rate is 81%, computed from allowed and abandoned applications decided across hundreds of cases in the examiner's pooled record.
  • How many art units does this examiner work in?
    Hong Shao's public record spans one art unit.
  • Does the pooled allowance rate predict the outcome of my application?
    No. The pooled allowance rate is a historical aggregate and is not a prediction of any specific application's outcome.
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METHODOLOGY & DISCLOSURES

Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner Hong Shao 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: 437 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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