Let me first say that I did not speak with the examiner assigned to the latest reexam (90/009457). I did, however, speak with a supervisor in the art unit. In general terms and not about our specific case:

He said that more than likely the examiner will do nothing until the 60 day patent owner response time has passed. He went on to say that most patent owners do not respond as a strategic move. If the patent owner were to respond with a statement, it would provide the requestor with another opportunity to respond.

He went on to say there is a lower threshold for ordering a reexam than to reject one. SNQs do not mean claims would be rejected.

We should not be looking for some type of office action before January 14. We might see an NF (non final office action) or we might be pleasantly surprised to see another NIRC.

Also, the mail room is slow and not accustomed to reexams. Everything must be scanned and entered in the image file wrapper. There could sometimes be delays in posting that information