The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) includes expanded
procedures for challenging patents administratively rather than
through the courts. One of the new post-grant review procedures for
challenging covered business method patents went into effect on
September 16, 2012.
Post-grant review of covered business method patents is
available to challenge any patent, even patents issued before the
effective date of the AIA, and is handled by the newly created
Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB). For purposes of post-grant
review, a "covered business method" (CBM) patent claims a
method or corresponding apparatus for performing data processing or
other operations used in practice, administration, or management of
a financial product or service, except that the term does not
include patents for technological inventions. Whether a patent
claims a "technological invention" is considered on a
case-by-case basis, and a technological invention is defined as
claimed subject
