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Examiner Michael J Li

TECH CENTER 2400 · 2 ART UNITS · 134 DECIDED APPLICATIONS · LAST ACTION APR 2022
ALLOWANCE RATE = SHARE OF DECIDED APPLICATIONS (ALLOWED + ABANDONED); PENDING EXCLUDED
OVERALL ALLOWANCE RATE · POOLED ACROSS 2 ART UNITS
59%vs 76% weighted peer average17 pts

Examiner Michael J Li has allowed 79 of 134 decided applications.

79 allowed
55 abandoned
No applications pending.
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 2457 · 58%AU 2443 · 83%

What the data says.reading this examiner

Michael J Li maintains a public record across Technology Center 2400, spanning 2 art units. Across hundreds of decided applications, his allowance rate stands at 59%. This figure represents the share of applications he has allowed among all his decided applications (allowed and abandoned combined), pooled across both art units. The allowance rate is calculated from closed applications only; pending applications are excluded from this computation. This pooled record reflects his aggregate performance across the different art units within TC 2400.

How to read these numbers.

This pooled record aggregates Michael J Li's decisions across 2 art units. The 59% allowance rate describes his historical record across all decided applications in those units combined. Aggregate figures characterize past decisions and are not predictions about any specific future application. Different art units within TC 2400 may have different application compositions. A pooled rate does not forecast the outcome of any individual case.

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 2457
128 APPS · 58% ALLOWANCE

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

58%
higher than about 8% of the 39 examiners with published rates in art unit 2457
AU avg 76%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 39 examiners with published rates in art unit 2457; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average, computed across all 40 examiners in the unit — a broader group than the 39 published marks, so it can sit apart from them.

Disposition128 decided applications

74 allowed
54 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 22mo
disposed 44.8mo
0
48mo
Art-unit average: first action 21.9 mo, disposed 39.3 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 39
56%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
87%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 73
94%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
64%

Interview benefit

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

without
40%
+25 pts
with
65%

A correlation, not proof that interviews cause allowances. Based on 93 decided applications with an interview and 35 without.

ART UNIT 2443
6 APPS · 83% ALLOWANCE · LIMITED DATA

Allowance ratewhere this examiner sits among peers

83%
higher than about 58% of the 45 examiners with published rates in art unit 2443
AU avg 69%
0%
100%
Each short mark is one of the 45 examiners with published rates in art unit 2443; the dot is this examiner. The tick is the art-unit average.

Disposition6 decided applications

5 allowed
1 abandoned
No applications pending.

Pendencymonths from filing

filed
first action 21.9mo
disposed 55mo
0
60mo
Art-unit average: first action 23.1 mo, disposed 40.7 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 37
50%
§102 — Anticipation (novelty)
no AU benchmark
67%
§103 — Obviousness
AU 77
83%
§112 — Written description & definiteness
no AU benchmark
50%

Based on 6 applications — too small a sample to characterize the rejection mix reliably; shown for completeness.

// FAQ

Questions about Examiner Michael J Li

  • What is Michael J Li's overall allowance rate?
    His allowance rate is 59%, calculated as the percentage of allowed applications among all his decided (allowed and abandoned) applications, pooled across both art units.
  • How many art units does this record cover?
    This pooled record spans 2 art units within Technology Center 2400.
  • How many applications are included in this record?
    The pooled record covers hundreds of decided applications. Specific application counts appear in the page's statistical boxes.
  • Is the allowance rate a prediction for my application?
    No. The allowance rate describes past decided applications only 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 Michael J Li 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: 134 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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