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Examiner James P Duffy

TECH CENTER 2400 · 2 ART UNITS · 678 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION JUL 2026
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 2 ART UNITS
79%vs 67% weighted peer average+12 pts

Examiner James P Duffy has allowed 537 of 678 decided applications.

537 allowed
141 abandoned
Plus 49 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.
The weighted peer average (67%) is each art unit's average below, weighted by this examiner's applications in it (2 art units).
DATA UPDATED JULY 22, 2026
AU 2461 · 79%AU 2416 · 33%

What the data says.reading this examiner

James P Duffy maintains a public record across 2 art units in Technology Center 2400. Across hundreds of decided applications, his allowance rate is 79%. This rate represents the share of applications that were allowed, among all decided applications (allowed and abandoned combined); pending applications are excluded from this calculation. The 79% figure is the examiner's pooled allowance rate and reflects his overall record across the art units in which he has issued decisions.

How to read these numbers.

This record aggregates decisions across multiple art units within TC 2400. A pooled allowance rate describes the examiner's past record in the aggregate and is not a prediction about any specific application. Different art units within the technology center may have different subject-matter focuses, examination practices, or applicant populations. Pooled figures provide a general measure of historical allowance frequency but do not forecast outcomes in individual cases.

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 2461
724 APPS · 79% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

79%
higher than about 67% 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.

Disposition675 decided applications

536 allowed
139 abandoned
Plus 49 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 19.7mo
disposed 34.2mo
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
21%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
83%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 87
90%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
28%

Interview benefit

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

without
83%
11 pts
with
72%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 225 decided applications with an interview and 450 without.

ART UNIT 2416
3 APPS · 33% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

33%
higher than about 17% of the 144 examiners with published rates in art unit 2416
AU avg 58%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 144 examiners with published rates in art unit 2416; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 146 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 144 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition3 decided applications

1 allowed
2 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 26.6mo
disposed 33.3mo
0
36mo
Art-unit average: first action 33.2 mo, disposed 47.8 mo.
// FAQ

Questions about Examiner James P Duffy

  • What is James P Duffy's overall allowance rate?
    His allowance rate is 79% across all decided applications in his record, pooled across all art units.
  • How many art units does this record cover?
    This pooled record spans 2 art units within Technology Center 2400.
  • What does the allowance rate represent?
    The allowance rate is the percentage of decided applications (allowed plus abandoned) that resulted in allowance. Pending applications are not included in this calculation.
  • Does this allowance rate predict the outcome of my application?
    No. The pooled allowance rate describes the examiner's past record 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 James P Duffy 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: 727 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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