Lawyers opposing the patent opposition procedure

Some of the buzz since the April 5 hearing suggests that lawyers agree that oppositions are a good idea. One notes that the February 2006 issue of JPTOS (88 JPTOS 101) has an article by Carlson and Migliorini which states that "the proposed legislation to create a U.S. post-grant patent opposition has significant drawbacks." The article cites to many of the papers in Intellectual Property Today by Joseph Hosteny also suggesting that oppositions are a bad idea. On July 18, 2005, I had an article in the New Jersey Law Journal stating that oppositions were a bad idea. Cecil Quillen says oppositions are a bad idea.

Curiously, Jaffe and Lerner, who complain about the role of lawyers in the patent process, are in favor of oppositions, which would increase the role of lawyers in the patent process.