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ARTICLE · 05 FEBRUARY 2015

What Constitutes A Covered Business Method Patent?

McDermott Will & Emery
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The petitioner, Groupon, filed a petition pursuant to § 18(a) of the America Invents Act requesting a CBM review of a patent directed to a system and method for peer-to-peer advertising between mobile communications devices.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Nitin Gambhir
Nitin Gambhir
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Groupon Inc. v. Blue Calypso Inc.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) provided guidance as to what constitutes a patent subject to covered business method (CBM) review and what are "technological inventions" in context of CBM patent reviews.  Groupon Inc. v. Blue Calypso Inc., CBM 2013-00033 (PTAB Dec. 17, 2014) (Benoit, APJ).

The petitioner, Groupon, filed a petition pursuant to § 18(a) of the America Invents Act (AIA) requesting a CBM review of a patent directed to a system and method for peer-to-peer advertising between mobile communications devices.  The patent describes how advertisements may be transmitted before or after transmissions between peer-to-peer devices, such as cellular phones.  In addition, the patent describes that in order to encourage transmissions of advertisements, advertisers may provide subsidies and incentives, such as reduced communication fees or product discounts, to qualified

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