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Patent Examiner Claire A. Norris

Art Unit 1779 · Water Treatment, Membranes, Filters & Liquid Separation · Tech Center 1700 · 299 applications filed 2021–2026

Average · harder than 50% of examiners● Free examiner data

Claire A. Norris is a USPTO patent examiner in Art Unit 1779 (Water Treatment, Membranes, Filters & Liquid Separation) with 299 applications from filing years 2021–2026. Examiner Norris's allowance rate is 83.9%, above the 82.7% USPTO average for applications filed in the same years. The examiner ranks harder than 50% of examiners, whose median allowance rate is 84.2%. In 2021, decided applications with an examiner interview were allowed 29.1 percentage points more often than those without.

Draft a response to Examiner NorrisSee the strategy data ↓

Data through October 2026 from USPTO Patent Center (formerly PAIR) · Methodology

Overview

Free
Difficulty · Average
harder than 50% of examiners
Easier50th percentileHarder
Allowance rate vs peers
Examiner Norris83.9%
Art Units 1778 and 177980.0%
USPTO average82.7%
Allowance rate
83.9%
▲ USPTO avg 82.7%
Applications
299
filing years 2021–2026
First-action allowance
4.0%
patented with no rejection
Abandoned
10.7%
share of applications
Avg office actions
1.6
USPTO avg 1.3
Days to first OA
691
▲ USPTO 614
RCE rate
24.7%
USPTO 19.0%
Interview rate
20.1%
USPTO 26.9%

Examiner details

  • Art unit1779 · Water Treatment, Membranes, Filters & Liquid Separation
  • Title / gradePrimary Patent Examiner · GS-14
  • Service14 years
  • PhoneOn each office action
  • Email[email protected]
  • In USPTO recordsNORRIS, CLAIRE A
Full signatory authority

Examiner Norris can allow an application without a supervisory sign-off.

Examines (USPC classes)
210 · Liquid Purification or Separation

How to improve your odds with Examiner Norris

  • The data favors an interview. Interviewed cases were allowed more often in all 4 measured years, by 7.7 to 29.1 points.
  • Plan for the timeline. First office action averages 691 days vs the 614-day USPTO norm.
  • Expect a §103. Obviousness is the most-issued rejection (202), and applicants overcame it 58.8% of the time.
  • The data favors an RCE here. Cases with an RCE were allowed more often in all 3 measured years, by 4.0 to 9.4 points.

Historical patterns from this examiner's past cases, shown for general information. This is not legal advice and does not predict the outcome of any specific application. Decisions about interviews, RCEs, and claim strategy should be made with a licensed patent attorney or agent.

Rejection patterns & how they get overcome

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§102 Novelty86 issued · 71.2% overcome
§103 Obviousness202 issued · 58.8% overcome
§112 Definiteness & disclosure187 issued · 80.5% overcome
How applicants traverse §103 rejections🔒 Members

Of the 43 winning responses to Examiner Norris's §103 rejections that Boundly has classified, 38 (88%) amended the claims and argued, 4 argued without amending, and 1 amended without arguing. Each winning response, with its arguments and claim amendments, is in the file wrapper.

Read the winning §103 argumentsFull REMARKS, amendments, claim trees & redlines from the file wrappers
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RCE behavior

Allowance after a Request for Continued Examination versus without one, per year. Use it to judge whether an RCE is worth the cost in front of Examiner Norris.

YearRCE rateAllowance w/ RCEAllowance w/oDelta
202328.2%100.0%92.1%+7.9pp
202233.3%86.7%77.3%+9.4pp
202130.8%81.8%77.8%+4.0pp

Recent outcomes

Free🔒 Case detail for members
App #TitleOutcomeOAsArguments & redline
18/320243Systems and Methods for Stormwater ManagementPatented1🔒 View
18/599191Scalable Continuous Flow Microbial Fuel CellsPatented2🔒 View
18/468173Biofilm Reactor Having at Least One Weighted MemberPatented1🔒 View
18/236318Flat Filter MediaPatented2🔒 View
See all 299 applications with full file-wrapper detailOffice action text, attorney arguments, amendments & claim-by-claim track changes
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Art Unit 1779 technology

Water & wastewater treatmentMembrane separationFiltration apparatusSorbents & chromatographyTop CPC C02F · B01D · B01J
About this examiner. Claire A. Norris examines in Art Unit 1779 (Water Treatment, Membranes, Filters & Liquid Separation, Tech Center 1700). The art unit's docket includes water & wastewater treatment, membrane separation, filtration apparatus, and sorbents & chromatography.

Frequently asked questions

What is Examiner Claire A. Norris's allowance rate?
Examiner Norris's allowance rate is 83.9%, compared with 82.7% across the USPTO and 80.0% in Art Units 1778 and 1779 for applications filed in the same years. That rate ranks Examiner Norris harder than 50% of examiners, whose median allowance rate is 84.2%.
Is Examiner Norris a hard examiner?
About average. Examiner Norris ranks harder than 50% of examiners, in the 50th difficulty percentile (average). Examiner Norris has an 83.9% allowance rate versus 82.7% across the USPTO and 80.0% in Art Units 1778 and 1779, 1.6 office actions per application versus 1.3, and an RCE rate of 24.7% versus 19.0% across the USPTO, for applications filed in the same years.
Do examiner interviews help with Examiner Norris?
In this examiner's record, yes. Decided applications with an interview were allowed more often in each of the 4 measured years, by 7.7 to 29.1 percentage points. In 2021, 100.0% of decided applications with an interview were allowed, versus 70.9% of those without.
What is Examiner Norris's most common rejection?
§103 obviousness, issued 202 times in the data. Applicants overcame it 58.8% of the time. Of the 43 winning responses Boundly has classified, 38 amended the claims and argued.
Is an RCE worth filing with Examiner Norris?
In this examiner's record, yes. Decided applications with an RCE were allowed more often in each of the 3 measured years, by 4.0 to 9.4 percentage points. In 2021, 81.8% of decided applications with an RCE were allowed, versus 77.8% of those without one.
How long until the first office action from Examiner Norris?
About 691 days on average, versus 614 days across the USPTO for applications filed in the same years.
How do I contact Examiner Claire A. Norris?
Examiner Norris can be reached by email at [email protected]. The examiner's direct line is listed at the end of the examiner's office actions.

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Statistics are computed by Boundly Prosecution Intel from USPTO Patent Center (formerly PAIR) file wrappers for filing years 2021–2026, refreshed regularly. Allowance rate (sometimes called grant rate) is the share of disposed applications that issued as patents. Office actions here are non-final and final rejections, so restriction requirements and allowances are not counted. USPTO benchmarks are weighted to each examiner's mix of filing years, and art-unit benchmarks to the art units and filing years of the examiner's own applications, so they compare like for like. The difficulty percentile ranks examiners, each counted once, so it can point the other way from the USPTO average, which counts applications. See how each number is computed. The year-by-year interview and RCE tables show up to four recent filing years, leaving out the newest one and any year with fewer than ten applications or five decided applications on either side. Historical data is provided for informational purposes only. Past examiner behavior does not guarantee future outcomes, and nothing here is legal advice or a substitute for advice from a licensed patent attorney or agent. Are you Claire A. Norris, or see an error? Request a correction.