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Examiner James Ross Hollister

TECH CENTER 2400 · 4 ART UNITS · 246 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION JUL 2026
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 4 ART UNITS
78%vs 71% weighted peer average+7 pts

Examiner James Ross Hollister has allowed 191 of 246 decided applications.

191 allowed
55 abandoned
Plus 26 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.
The weighted peer average (71%) is each art unit's average below, weighted by this examiner's applications in it (4 art units).
DATA UPDATED JULY 22, 2026
AU 2499 · 88%AU 2454 · 68%AU 2456 · 78%AU 2452 · 100%

What the data says.reading this examiner

James Ross Holliker maintains a pooled allowance rate of 78% across hundreds of decided applications in Technology Center 2400. His record spans 4 art units within this technology center. The allowance rate ranges from 68% to 88% across these art units. This pooled figure represents the percentage of applications that were allowed among all decided applications (allowed and abandoned combined), with pending applications excluded from the calculation. The variation across art units reflects the distribution of outcomes within the examiner's portfolio across different subject-matter areas within TC 2400.

How to read these numbers.

A pooled record aggregates an examiner's outcomes across multiple art units into a single figure. The 78% allowance rate describes historical results across all decided applications and art units combined—it is a factual summary of past decisions, not a prediction about any specific application. The range of 68% to 88% shows that allowance rates vary among the art units; this variation is normal and reflects differences in the applications, rejections, and amendments within each unit. Pooled data provides context for an examiner's overall record but does not forecast the outcome of any individual application.

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.4 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 2499
107 APPS · 88% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

88%
higher than 7 of the 16 examiners with published rates in art unit 2499
AU avg 80%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 16 examiners with published rates in art unit 2499; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 17 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 16 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition81 decided applications

71 allowed
Plus 26 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 18.8mo
disposed 32.4mo
0
36mo
Art-unit average: first action 20.9 mo, disposed 32.6 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 27
37%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
95%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 89
99%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
41%

Interview benefit

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

without
76%
+20 pts
with
96%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 48 decided applications with an interview and 33 without.

ART UNIT 2454
102 APPS · 68% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

68%
higher than about 37% of the 57 examiners with published rates in art unit 2454
AU avg 70%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 57 examiners with published rates in art unit 2454; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 58 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 57 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition102 decided applications

69 allowed
33 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 20.4mo
disposed 38.5mo
0
48mo
Art-unit average: first action 23.8 mo, disposed 40.6 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 41
73%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
83%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 82
98%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
59%

Interview benefit

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

without
48%
+37 pts
with
85%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 54 decided applications with an interview and 48 without.

ART UNIT 2456
55 APPS · 78% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

78%
higher than about 69% of the 42 examiners with published rates in art unit 2456
AU avg 58%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 42 examiners with published rates in art unit 2456; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average.

Disposition55 decided applications

43 allowed
12 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 11.4mo
disposed 23.8mo
0
24mo
Art-unit average: first action 24.3 mo, disposed 42.4 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 42
51%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
100%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 84
100%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
67%

Interview benefit

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

without
70%
+14 pts
with
84%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 32 decided applications with an interview and 23 without.

ART UNIT 2452
8 APPS · 100% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

100%
higher than about 94% of the 34 examiners with published rates in art unit 2452
AU avg 69%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 34 examiners with published rates in art unit 2452; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average.

Disposition8 decided applications

8 allowed
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 11.3mo
disposed 21.8mo
0
24mo
Art-unit average: first action 24.2 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 44
50%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
100%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 87
100%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
50%

Based on 8 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner James Ross Hollister

  • What is James Ross Holliker's overall allowance rate?
    His pooled allowance rate is 78% across hundreds of decided applications in Technology Center 2400. This represents the percentage of applications that were allowed among all decided applications (allowed and abandoned), excluding pending cases.
  • How many art units does this examiner cover?
    James Ross Holliker has a public record spanning 4 art units within Technology Center 2400: art units 2452, 2454, 2456, and 2499.
  • Does the allowance rate vary across art units?
    Yes. The allowance rate ranges from 68% to 88% across the 4 art units in which this examiner has a substantial record. This variation reflects differences in outcomes among the different subject-matter areas within TC 2400.
  • What does the pooled rate mean for my application?
    The pooled allowance rate is a historical aggregate and is not a prediction of any specific application's outcome. Actual results depend on application-specific facts, the art, claim scope, and examiner decisions during prosecution.
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METHODOLOGY & DISCLOSURES

Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner James Ross Hollister 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: 272 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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