In Part II of our Using Juristat's Examiner Reports series, we looked at how attorneys can use Juristat Examiner Reports when deciding the best way to respond to an office action. In Part III, we will highlight Examiner Reports' historical analysis of your examiner's behavior. Because every examiner has his or her own unique opinions about patent law, looking into how they have responded to applicants in the past is a good indicator of how they will respond to you. 

In Part I of our Using Juristat's Examiner Reports series, we explained how understanding an examiner's key metrics can help you estimate expense, allocate resources, and manage client expectations. In this post, we'll take a closer look at responding to office actions, including interviews, appeals, and the effects of filing a continuation or continuation-in-part. 

Following up on our post from last week, the Top Firms in TC 2400, we now move on to the firms that receive the fewest office actions to allowance. Below, we’ve ranked the ten firms that receive the fewest office actions to allowance in TC 2400. To be eligible for inclusion, the firms must be based in the United States and have at least 500 disposed applications in the ten-year period between 2006 and 2015. 

Technology Center 2400 covers networking, multiplexing, cable, and security. The security and cryptography art units within the tech center were the subject of our previous post titled “Top Firms for Cybersecurity Patents.” The average allowance rate in TC 2400 is 72.8%, but the firms below have rates quite a bit higher. 

Now that we have revealed the top firms by allowance rate in TC 2100, we now turn our attention to the firms that receive the fewest office actions to allowance. Below, we’ve ranked the ten firms that receive the fewest office actions to allowance in TC 2100. To be eligible for inclusion, the firms must be based in the United States and have at least 500 disposed applications in the ten-year period between 2006 and 2015. 

Technology Center 2100 covers computer technologies, including computer architecture, memory, databases, and software development. The average allowance rate in TC 2100 is 74.3%, which very nearly mirrors the USPTO average of 72%. Here, we’ve ranked the ten firms with the highest allowance rates in TC 2100. To be eligible for inclusion on this list, each firm must have disposed of at least 500 applications in the technology center in the 10-year period between 2006 and 2015. 

Continuing our study of firms that perform above average in several metrics in every technology center at the USPTO, we now turn our attention to the firms that receive the fewest office actions to allowance in TC 1700. As we have stated before, we simply report the facts. A low number of office actions could mean that a firm did not fight for as much claim scope as they could have, or it could mean that the firm was precise and targeted when writing their claims. Either way, fewer office actions generally indicates a more efficient and cheaper prosecution, which is something both firms and their clients can find merit in. 

As part of our ongoing effort to rank firms according to various methods in every technology center at the USPTO, we now turn our attention to TC 1700. This technology center generally handles chemical and materials engineering, with work groups as diverse as organic chemistry, metallurgy, food, and radiation imagery. Its average allowance rate is 62.7%, which is well below the USPTO average of 71%. Here, we’ve ranked the ten firms with the highest allowance rates in TC 1700. To be eligible for inclusion on this list, each firm must have disposed of at least 500 applications in the technology center in the 10-year period between 2006 and 2015.

As part of our ongoing effort to identify firms that stand out using various metrics in every technology center at the USPTO, we again focus our efforts on TC 1600 this week. As you may recall, we ranked the top firms by allowance rate in a previous blog post titled “The Top Firms for Life Science Patents.” This week, we will uncover the firms that receive the fewest office actions to allowance in TC 1600. 

TC 1600 handles applications generally touching on the life sciences, including plants, organic chemistry, and molecular biology. Its overall allowance rate is 56.7%, which is significantly lower than the USPTO average of 71%. In terms of average speed to disposition, it takes an average of 37.2 months to prosecute an application to allowance. Below are the top 10 fastest firms in TC 1600. The firms below all have had at least 100 applications disposed of in TC 1600 during the 10-year period between 2006 and 2015 and are ranked by the average number of months it takes them to receive a notice of allowance.