you wrote:

the examiner made the comment that one of the criteria for making the decision as to whether a re-exam would be undertaken was the importance of the patent, and further, that the number of prior exams wasn't that important by comparison.

I had written:

He said that he was not permitted to speak about specifics as they relate to a particular patent, however, he could speak in general terms. I asked him how many re-exams could there possibly be. His reply was that he knew of no limit. Then he said a better way to answer that question would be to ask "How may claims are there and how important is the patent."

Laurie