The USPTO announced in the OG that it would reexamine four patents owned by Ronald Katz. The patents relate to call center technology and a statistical analysis system. Katz is litigating with several companies including Verizon.
Verizon Press Release
Official Gazette
Nipper’s Scoop
Many major corporations have been Katz licensees including American Express, AT&T, Microsoft, and others. (Katz Press Release)
Xenia P. Kobylarz is following this story in detail at the Daily Journal. According to Xenia:
The patent office has re-examined 6,300 patents since 1981, according to agency spokeswoman Brigid Quinn. Of that total, only 165 - 2.6 percent - were instigated by the patent office itself. The office is permitted to launch these probes only upon strong evidence of invalidity, she noted. Consequently, when the patent office orders a re-examination, Quinn said, there is a higher chance the patent will be invalidated.
I have a hunch that there will be more to this story.