Susan Decker writes in the Washington Post about changing tactics in fighting patent suits, particularly the patent trolls link here.

The crucial paragraph states, "Requesting a government evaluation of whether a patent was properly issued, known as reexamination, is cheaper than a lawsuit and has an easier standard for discrediting a patent than what is allowed before a judge or jury. With a success rate of about 90 percent, companies have almost doubled requests in the past five years, turning the patent office into a reliable forum to shoo away competitors' claims of patent infringement."

The patent office is ostensibly gearing up to handle the burdens of a greater workload so that re-exams will be done more rapidly and professionally. We will have to see how this plays out. Past experience suggests a high level of skepticism, but the game plan sounds good. For details, see the article.

There is something hinky about this article. Patently-O has had statistics on reexaminations many times. The success rate for complete elimination of claims runs about 12%, based on the most recent study available. About 25% of all patents reexamined survive reexamination intact. The remainder lose some claims.

California has also opened the door for prosecuting filers of sham reexamination requests. Fundamentally, requests based on the hope that the patent holder will fold without pursuing whatever legal action they are taking.

http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2010/11/untouchable-sham-reexamination-requests.html

If people take the course that they will file a reexamination request as a delaying tactic for a lawsuit, they may find themselves liable for malicious prosecution allegations and sanctions by the court.