Patent reexamination/reissue number one (RE1) issued in 1838. Since then, the PTO has reissued just under 40,000 patents. Since 1976, the office has issued about 350 per year in a rising trend. (Since 1999, the Office has reissued patents at a rate of 430 per year). While the PTO has upped its throughput, pendency rates of reissued patents continue to rise. Recently reissued patents (2006 & 2007) were pending (on average) just under five years on average. During that time, the PTO created a new power-team of expert examiners to handle reexamination. The numbers are clear here, however, that the focused effort should be redoubled.  Special attention should be paid to reexaminations because those patents are likely to be more valuable."