The opinion
1. The opinion will be given by an experienced senior patent examiner. It will be based on a careful consideration of all the material before him and will be issued normally within 3 months of the request. The opinion will be reasoned and a firm view will be stated - rather than, for example, trying to assess the likelihood of invalidity or infringement in percentage terms. Of course the opinion will only be as good as the written statements and observations themselves - and it may be necessary for the opinion to reflect the constraints imposed by those submissions.
2. Examples of issued opinions can be found on the Office's website.
3. A copy of the opinion will be sent to the requester and (regardless of whether they submitted observations or not) to the patent proprietor and exclusive licensee if there is one. A copy will also go to any party who submitted observations. No sooner than 1 week after the opinion has been sent to all interested parties, it will be published in full on the website. This slight delay is to enable representatives to relay the opinion to their clients prior to it being published.
4. The papers associated with an opinion, such as the request and observations will be open to public inspection, so that parties may come to the Office to inspect them or may request copies.