The transitional Covered Business Method (CBM) review program
saw its end on September 16, 2020. Under the CBM review program, a
party believing that a patent directed to a financial product or
service did not cover patentable subject matter (i.e., the
invention was directed to a "business method") could
petition the Patent Office to institute a review of the patent to
determine whether it covers a patentable invention. This review
provided a less costly alternative to challenging business method
patents than civil litigation.
The transitional CBM review program began as a reaction to the
Patent Office issuing a host of patents for business related
functions that were of dubious merit. The Patent Office was not
adequately equipped to evaluate inventions relating to business
methods and did not apply the same rigor as it does for more
technologically focused inventions. Eventually, rulings from the
Supreme Court limited the subject matter of patentable inventions
to
