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Patent Examiner Robert S. Walters Jr.

Art Unit 1717 · Coating Apparatus, Coating Processes & Vapor Deposition · Tech Center 1700 · 304 applications filed 2021–2026

⚑ Very Hard · harder than 83% of examiners● Free examiner data

Robert S. Walters Jr. is a USPTO patent examiner in Art Unit 1717 (Coating Apparatus, Coating Processes & Vapor Deposition) with 304 applications from filing years 2021–2026. Examiner Walters's allowance rate is 60.6%, below the 83.0% USPTO average for applications filed in the same years. The examiner ranks harder than 83% of examiners. In 2022, decided applications with an examiner interview were allowed 35.0 percentage points more often than those without.

Draft a response to Examiner WaltersSee the strategy data ↓

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

Overview

Free
Difficulty · Very Hard
harder than 83% of examiners
Easier83rd percentileHarder
Allowance rate vs peers
Examiner Walters60.6%
Art Unit 171778.6%
USPTO average83.0%
Allowance rate
60.6%
▼ USPTO avg 83.0%
Applications
304
filing years 2021–2026
First-action allowance
2.8%
patented with no rejection
Abandoned
23.3%
share of applications
Avg office actions
2.1
USPTO avg 1.2
Days to first OA
589
USPTO 590
RCE rate
29.9%
USPTO 16.7%
Interview rate
28.0%
USPTO 24.1%

Examiner details

  • Art unit1717 · Coating Apparatus, Coating Processes & Vapor Deposition
  • Title / gradePrimary Patent Examiner · GS-14
  • Service19 years
  • PhoneOn each office action
  • In USPTO recordsWALTERS JR, ROBERT S
Full signatory authority

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

Examines (USPC classes)
427 · Coating Processes524 · Synthetic Resins or Natural Rubbers (Class 520 Series)106 · Coating or Plastic Compositions

How to improve your odds with Examiner Walters

  • The data favors an interview. Interviewed cases were allowed more often in all 4 measured years, by 24.2 to 53.4 points.
  • The timeline tracks the norm. First office action averages 589 days vs the 590-day USPTO norm.
  • Expect a §103. Obviousness is the most-issued rejection (281), and applicants overcame it 37.0% of the time.
  • The data favors an RCE here. Cases with an RCE were allowed more often in all 3 measured years, by 31.1 to 43.3 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 Novelty92 issued · 57.4% overcome
§103 Obviousness281 issued · 37.0% overcome
§112 Definiteness & disclosure142 issued · 65.8% overcome
How applicants traverse §103 rejections🔒 Members

Of the 36 winning responses to Examiner Walters's §103 rejections that Boundly has classified, 32 (89%) amended the claims and argued, 3 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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Draft your response with Examiner Walters's record and Art Unit 1717's history in view, including the rejection patterns, the interview record, and the arguments that have overcome them. See how Boundly assists with office action responses.

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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 Walters.

YearRCE rateAllowance w/ RCEAllowance w/oDelta
202324.2%100.0%56.7%+43.3pp
202243.8%76.7%45.5%+31.2pp
202158.0%69.2%38.1%+31.1pp

Recent outcomes

Free🔒 Case detail for members
App #TitleOutcomeOAsArguments & redline
18/271479Eye Protection Lens, Method for Manufacturing the Same, and GlassesPatented2🔒 View
18/059456Water-Based Ink for Inkjet Recording, Printed Recording Medium, Inkjet Recording Method, Inkjet Recording Device, and Ink Storage ContainerPatented3🔒 View
18/970792Aminoalkoxydisilazane Compounds, Composition for Depositing Silicon-Containing Thin Film Containing the Same and Method of Manufacturing Silicon-Containing Thin Film Using the SamePatented0🔒 View
18/275456Epoxy Resin Composition for Fiber-Reinforced Composite Material, Fiber-Reinforced Composite Material, and Method for Producing Fiber-Reinforced Composite MaterialPatented2🔒 View
See all 304 applications with full file-wrapper detailOffice action text, attorney arguments, amendments & claim-by-claim track changes
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Art Unit 1717 technology

Spray coating apparatusVapor depositionMasks & substrate holdersBattery electrode coatersTop CPC C23C · H10P · B05C
About this examiner. Robert S. Walters Jr. examines in Art Unit 1717 (Coating Apparatus, Coating Processes & Vapor Deposition, Tech Center 1700). The art unit's docket includes spray coating apparatus, vapor deposition, masks & substrate holders, and battery electrode coaters.

Frequently asked questions

What is Examiner Robert S. Walters Jr.'s allowance rate?
Examiner Walters's allowance rate is 60.6%, compared with 83.0% across the USPTO and 78.6% in Art Unit 1717 for applications filed in the same years. That rate ranks Examiner Walters harder than 83% of examiners.
Is Examiner Walters a hard examiner?
Yes. Examiner Walters ranks harder than 83% of examiners, in the 83rd difficulty percentile (very hard). Examiner Walters has a 60.6% allowance rate versus 83.0% across the USPTO and 78.6% in Art Unit 1717, 2.1 office actions per application versus 1.2, and an RCE rate of 29.9% versus 16.7% across the USPTO, for applications filed in the same years.
Do examiner interviews help with Examiner Walters?
In this examiner's record, yes. Decided applications with an interview were allowed more often in each of the 4 measured years, by 24.2 to 53.4 percentage points. In 2022, 80.8% of decided applications with an interview were allowed, versus 45.8% of those without.
What is Examiner Walters's most common rejection?
§103 obviousness, issued 281 times in the data. Applicants overcame it 37.0% of the time. Of the 36 winning responses Boundly has classified, 32 amended the claims and argued.
Is an RCE worth filing with Examiner Walters?
In this examiner's record, yes. Decided applications with an RCE were allowed more often in each of the 3 measured years, by 31.1 to 43.3 percentage points. In 2022, 76.7% of decided applications with an RCE were allowed, versus 45.5% of those without one.
How long until the first office action from Examiner Walters?
About 589 days on average, versus 590 days across the USPTO for applications filed in the same years.

Put Examiner Walters's data to work on your next response.

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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 Robert S. Walters Jr., or see an error? Request a correction.