By Michael Borella and Ashley Hatzenbihler — There is ample evidence that patent examiner allowance rates vary dramatically from examiner to examiner and art unit to art unit.[1] This has resulted in the general understanding that there are "easy" examiners and "tough" examiners. Naturally, there is little complaining about "easy" examiners (until you are defending against a patent with very broad claims, at least). But when patent attorneys stand around the coffee machine at work (or, more accurately, are on Zoom or Teams calls), there is a not small amount of eye rolling and wringing of hands over "tough" examiners….
