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◈ USPTO PATENT EXAMINER STATISTICS

Examiner Kristin Sensmeier Dobbs

TECH CENTER 2400 · 2 ART UNITS · 334 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION JUL 2026
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 2 ART UNITS
64%vs 76% weighted peer average12 pts

Examiner Kristin Sensmeier Dobbs has allowed 213 of 334 decided applications.

213 allowed
121 abandoned
Plus 21 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.
The weighted peer average (76%) is each art unit's average below, weighted by this examiner's applications in it (2 art units).
DATA UPDATED JULY 22, 2026
AU 2488 · 80%AU 2486 · 47%

What the data says.reading this examiner

Kristin Sensmeier Dobbs holds a public record in Technology Center 2400 spanning 2 art units. Across hundreds of decided applications, her pooled allowance rate is 64%. This figure represents the percentage of applications in her record that were allowed, relative to all decided applications (allowed and abandoned combined), and does not include pending applications. The allowance rate ranges from 47% to 80% across her art units, reflecting variation in her record within the technology center.

How to read these numbers.

This pooled profile aggregates decided applications across multiple art units. The overall allowance rate of 64% describes the historical record as a whole and is not a prediction for any individual application. Variation across art units (47% to 80%) reflects differences in the subject matter, complexity, or prior decisions within each unit. Pooled statistics describe past outcomes but do not forecast the outcome of a specific application or prosecution path.

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 2488
188 APPS · 80% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

80%
higher than about 33% of the 24 examiners with published rates in art unit 2488
AU avg 82%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 24 examiners with published rates in art unit 2488; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 25 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 24 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition167 decided applications

134 allowed
33 abandoned
Plus 21 applications still pending — not yet decided, so excluded from the rate.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 22.2mo
disposed 39.6mo
0
48mo
Art-unit average: first action 21.1 mo, disposed 31.5 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 24
21%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
78%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 85
86%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
27%

Interview benefit

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

without
80%
±0 pts
with
80%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 40 decided applications with an interview and 127 without.

ART UNIT 2486
167 APPS · 47% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

47%
higher than about 13% of the 38 examiners with published rates in art unit 2486
AU avg 69%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 38 examiners with published rates in art unit 2486; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 39 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 38 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition167 decided applications

79 allowed
88 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 28.1mo
disposed 49.6mo
0
60mo
Art-unit average: first action 21.8 mo, disposed 36.3 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 21
26%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
47%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 84
95%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
34%

Interview benefit

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

without
41%
+20 pts
with
61%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 51 decided applications with an interview and 116 without.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner Kristin Sensmeier Dobbs

  • What is Kristin Sensmeier Dobbs's overall allowance rate?
    Her pooled allowance rate is 64% across hundreds of decided applications in TC 2400. This is the share of allowed applications among all decided applications (allowed and abandoned).
  • How many art units does she cover?
    She has a public record in 2 art units within Technology Center 2400.
  • What is the range of allowance rates across her art units?
    Allowance rates range from 47% to 80% across her art units, reflecting differences in subject matter and historical decisions within each unit.
  • Does the pooled rate predict the outcome of my application?
    No. Pooled statistics describe past outcomes and do not forecast any specific application. Actual outcomes depend on claim language, prior art, examiner reasoning, and applicant response.
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Where to go next.

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METHODOLOGY & DISCLOSURES

Methodology. This page pools every art unit in which Examiner Kristin Sensmeier Dobbs 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: 355 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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