Innovation Alliance Fact Sheet on the Covered Business Method Patent Review Program – UPDATED
Renewing the CBM Review Process, Even for a Short Period, Will Continue to Harm Innovation
In 2011, Congress enacted Section 18 of the American Invents Act (“AIA”) to create a temporary program to challenge “covered business method” patents (“CBM”). CBM reviews were intended to allow the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to review a narrow set of patents that proponents of the program believed may have been improperly granted as a result of court decisions in the early 1990s and 2000s. The AIA provided for “transitional” CBM reviews, an eight-year program that expired on September 16, 2020.
Congress should reject any efforts to renew or expand the program beyond its specific time and purpose. The past eight years have provided more than enough time for petitioners to challenge covered business method patents. Any further extension would undermine patent rights and drain resources from the USPTO. In recent years, the program was rarely used. The USPTO recommended “adhering to the sunset period and discontinuing CBM proceedings on Sept. 16, 2020.”
For more information detailing why Congress should allow the CBM program to expire as intended, read our fact sheet here.