Conflicts of Interest in Patent Prosecution

Professor David Hricik is a leading Intellectual Property Ethicist.  He recently posted some questions about your thoughts on patent prosecution conflicts.  Do these situations create conflicts of interest:

First example:  In prosecuting application for Client A, lawyer receives an office action rejecting claims over a prior art reference that is owned by Client B. Is there a conflict? [your comments].

Second Example: Is it per se unethical for a lawyer to provide a non-infringement or invalidity opinion about another client's patent? [your comments].

Professor Hricik is also a speaking at our upcoming conference on blog law.

Hat tip to Steve Nipper.

Comments

[ji CHEN]

First example, no conflict of interests, because prior art reference is in public domain and client B has no direct right to it.
Second example, truely conflict of interests. The patent attorney is representing two sides of a potential patent dispute or litigation