Regarding the ‘774 patent re-exam: EDIG/DM has two months from the date of the order granting the re-exam (01/11/11), to submit an optional Patent Owner’s Statement (POS) to the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). That puts their optional deadline at 03/11/11 (this coming Friday). Time extensions are allowed but the requests must be filed by the deadline for consideration. If EDIG/DM choose not to submit a POS to the USPTO, then in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations, the third-party who requested the re-exam (Patterson & Sheridan, LLP) are not allowed to submit a reply (since there’s nothing to reply to). If that happens, I believe the USPTO will perform the re-exam as is, with no arguments/explanations by any party involved, and make their determination on whether the ‘774 patent stands as is, gets changed somewhat, or gets invalidated altogether. It’ll be interesting to see what EDIG/DM does here…a lot of legal strategy in play IMO.

Regarding the ‘737 patent re-exam: This re-exam was ordered on 2/22/11 so EDIG/DM have until 4/22/11 to submit an optional POS. Patterson & Sheridan, LLP were the third-party requesters of this re-exam as well.