Yes it is quite frustrating...the reexamination phase it no more than liek someone jumping on th eemergency brake of of an up and running licensing vehicle. Although we still have a valid patent, that stands as issued, the chances of getting potential infringers to up and pay now with these going on and the J and T cases is quite improbable....unless someonei s willing to ante up small change to just get us off their backs.
Meanwhile the potential infingers just sit bak tell us out patents are in question on a few fronts and then say coem back and see me when all is finsished and approved in our favor. We lose the time and we have to spend the cash to defend ourselves....seems like an unfair system doesn't it...but that's how it works.
The one good thing is that when the reexam is done and in our favor our patents come out stronger than they went in as long as we don't lose any important claims. Potential infringers tend to ante up much more quickly then unless you have a deep pocketed big timer who is willing to spend his and our money in court trying to prove that his operations do not infinge on our claims.
It's a very trying system but it's what we have to live with now and if there is any opportunity to speed things up itusually comes when the patent holder requests an in office conference with the examiner and usually the head of his GAU. That usually stops a lot of the letter writing back and forth with 2-3 month delays between each correspondence....I hope whatever avenue that is available to us RG uses to get this thing on track to a speedy and positive ending.
JMHO