Office Action Research: Search Office Actions by Refusal Type, Examiner, and Outcome

Office Action Research lets you search real USPTO office action records and switch between research tools from one workspace. The page title carries a Beta badge.

Go directly to /oa-research.

What You Can Do

• Search office action records by mark, owner, or serial number
• Search the full text of office actions
• Filter by refusal type, §(2d) argument hooks, examiner, outcome, Nice class, response status, prosecution round, and date
• Sort results by relevance, date, or effectiveness
• Select cases and run a multi-case strategy analysis
• Switch to the Strategy Lab, Coexistence, and Lead Feed tools from the same page

Tabs

The page has a tab row under the title:

• Search Cases — the default tab
• Strategy Lab
• Coexistence — marked Beta
• Lead Feed — marked Beta and Add-on, shown only when the feature is enabled

Search Cases

This is the default tab. With no tab parameter in the URL, /oa-research opens here. Use it to search office action records with the page-level search bar and the filter sidebar.

Strategy Lab

Strategy Lab stores the multi-case strategy analyses you generate from Search Cases, so you can reopen them without rerunning the same case set. See Strategy Lab for the full guide.

Coexistence

The Coexistence tab is a standalone §(2d) evidence tool, marked Beta. It helps you find pairs of similar marks owned by different parties that already coexist on the register — evidence the goods are not related. You can start from your own application's serial (it pulls the examiner's §(2d) citations), compare two serials directly, or describe the goods as free text, then download a filing-ready exhibit bundle.

Lead Feed

Lead Feed appears only when enabled. It is a paid add-on, marked Beta and Add-on. See Leads for the full guide.

Search Modes

The main search bar has a mode toggle on the right (shown on medium and larger screens). It switches the search between two modes:

Cases

When Cases is selected, the placeholder reads:

Search marks, owners, or serial numbers...

Use this mode to find office action records by trademark, owner, or serial number.

OA Text

When OA Text is selected, the placeholder reads:

Search OA text... e.g., doctrine of foreign equivalents

Use this mode to search the wording inside office actions.

Filters

The Search Cases sidebar groups filters into these sections:

Section	What It Does
Prosecution Rounds	Toggle Show all rounds to include every OA round per case, instead of the latest round only
Refusal Type	Filter by §2(d), §2(e) and its subsections, and other substantive grounds, examiner requirements, and administrative or advisory grounds. When a §2(d) refusal is selected, §(2d) Argument Hooks appear so you can drill into the specific argument the examiner made
Outcome	Registered, Supplemental Register, Abandoned, Pending
Response	Response filed, No response yet
Nice Classes	Individual numbered classes drawn from the current results
Examining Attorney	Multi-select list with a Search examiners... field
OA Type	Non-Final, Final, Other

When more than one refusal type or argument hook is selected, an Any / All toggle controls whether a case must match any or all of them.

On smaller screens, tap Filters to open the filter panel in a drawer.

Sorting

The sort dropdown above the results offers:

• By Relevance
• By Date (Newest)
• By Effectiveness

Date Filtering

The OA Date control above the results sets a date range. When a range is active, it appears as a filter pill you can remove, and an active date is included in the analysis context for any strategy analysis you run.

Running a Strategy Analysis

Check the boxes next to the cases you want to compare, then click Analyze Strategy (you need between 2 and 10 selected cases). The analysis runs in a modal and is saved to Strategy Lab for later.

URL Behavior

Tab and filter state live in the URL, so you can bookmark or share a view:

• /oa-research opens Search Cases
• /oa-research?tab=strategy opens Strategy Lab
• /oa-research?tab=coexistence opens Coexistence
• /oa-research?tab=leads opens Lead Feed (only when enabled)

Legacy ?tab=precedent links fall back to Search Cases.

Tips

• Use OA Text mode to find office actions that cite a specific doctrine, such as "doctrine of foreign equivalents"
• Narrow by Examining Attorney to study how a particular examiner handles a refusal type
• Combine a Refusal Type with a §(2d) Argument Hook to find cases on the exact argument you are answering
• Select 2–10 related cases and run a strategy analysis to compare what worked

Related Features

• Strategy Lab — review and reopen saved strategy analyses
• Leads — find unrepresented office action applicants (paid add-on)
• AI Office Action Response Drafting — generate an attorney-ready response draft
• Winning Arguments Database — browse successful office action strategies by refusal type