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ARTICLE · 11 FEBRUARY 2021

Business Method Patent Assertions Increase Without PTAB CBM Option

Ropes & Gray LLP
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Prior to the sun setting on the Covered Business Method (CBM) patent challenges this past September, the filings of such challenges with the PTAB had tailed off significantly.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Scott A. McKeown
Scott A. McKeown
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Texas Courts See Influx of Cases Against Retailers & Banks

Prior to the sun setting on the Covered Business Method (CBM) patent challenges this past September, the filings of such challenges with the PTAB had tailed off significantly. This led many to believe that the proceeding had outlived its usefulness. However, a recent uptick in business method assertions (as I predicted would occur) seems to demonstrate that the mere existence of the CBM proceeding had a prophylactic impact on the assertion of business method patents.

By way of reminder, the Covered Business Method (CBM) option at the PTAB was designed as "transitional" As such, it was given an 8-year lifespan before it was slated to "sunset" on September 16, 2020. The reasoning for this time limitation was that Congress believed that between the State Street Bank and Bilski patentable subject matter SCOTUS decisions, that the USPTO had issued a number of patents under the more liberal standard of State

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