SightSound v. Apple: When Is A Patent A CBM Patent?

The Federal Circuit recently revisited a question first answered earlier this year in Versata Dev. Grp., Inc. v. SAP Am., Inc., 793 F.3d 1306 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (Versata II): When is a patent eligible for Covered-Business Method Review (CBM review) under AIA §18?

In SightSound Techs., LLC v. Apple Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2015), SightSound appealed a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the Board) in which several of SightSound's patent claims were subjected to CBM review and determined to be obvious. The claims at issue were generally directed to transferring digital content from a first party to a second party in exchange for a fee. See U.S. Patent No. 5,191,573 claims 1, 2, 4, and 5 and U.S. Patent No. 5,966,440 claims 1, 64, and 95.