Posts Tagged: "covered business method review"

SIPCO v. Emerson Underscores Inherent Problems with CBM: So Don’t Revive It

In the late 1990s, prolific inventor David Petite invented a foundational technology for the Internet of Things. His invention drove proliferation of wirelessly networked machines and met with huge commercial success. But last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the revocation of his patent through a byzantine and controversial administrative proceeding. This patent was subjected to a Covered Business Method Review (CBM) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The PTAB is a division of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) created by the 2011 America Invents Act that has invalided a whopping 84% of the 3,000 patents they have reviewed. Coming too late to save Petite’s patent, the “transitional” CBM program expired September 16 of this year (two other types of PTAB proceedings remain in effect). CBM was not used nearly as much as the other PTAB proceedings, which have no restrictions on subject matter. Yet, corporate interests are still trying to revive CBM, and there’s buzz that attempts are being made to reinstate the program via the fiscal 2021 spending bill this week. There’s no logical basis to do so.

Patent Filings Roundup: CBM Goes Out with a Whimper; Board Denies Unwired Planet Challenge After District Court Verdict; Fortress-Owned Divx Targets Devices

District court filings were substantially lulled this week, with about a third of what’s normal—33—filed to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s 32 petitions, propped up by lithium-ion battery company Amprius filing eight inter partes reviews (IPRs) against the Japanese Softbank (via Fortress IP)-owned Traverse CF non-practicing entity (NPE). CBM Sunset: The little-used covered business methods (CBM) program sunsets today. As evidenced by the lack of any substantial rush to file any at the last minute, the proceeding had for years been eclipsed both by Federal Circuit rulings narrowing the scope of the program and by the explosion and success of subject matter challenges in the district courts. While there have been rumors of a last-minute attempt to revive the program, for now it seems destined for the dustbin of history.

Special Interest Group Implores Congress to Extend CBM Program

Two weeks before the Transitional Program for Covered Business Method Patents (CBM) Program, implemented in 2012 under the America Invents Act (AIA), is set to expire, a special interest group dubbed the “Quality Patents Coalition”, is reportedly urging Congress to extend the program for one year. The CBM program is currently set to expire on September 16, 2020. In June, in response to reports of the imminent request for an extension, a number of organizations submitted a letter to Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) arguing that “CBM should expire of disinterest, if not to eliminate a proceeding of questionable use, of illegitimate vintage, and of unjust intent.”

Financial Incentive Structure for AIA Trials Destroys Due Process at PTAB, New Vision Gaming Argues

On June 30, New Vision Gaming & Development filed a corrected appellant brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit challenging two covered business method (CBM) reviews conducted at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) which canceled all claims of New Vision’s patents covering a gaming invention. Among other things, New Vision argues that the PTAB is constitutionally flawed, that its structure creates financial incentives for administrative patent judges (APJs) to grant validity reviews in a way that destroys due process for patent owners, and that the PTAB’s APJs have neither the judicial independence nor the oversight of Article III courts necessary to address the impermissible appearance of bias at that tribunal.

Patent Filings Roundup: Video Gambling Games Going to the Dogs, The Queen’s Cherries, and a Tale of Bankruptcy and Patent Infringement in Cinema Stadium Seating

With 27 new Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) filings—25 inter partes reviews (IPRs), one post grant review (PGR) and one covered business method review (CBM), the first in months—this week’s numbers rested roughly within the new normal, with district court complaints flatlining at around 70 (i.e., 68 this week). That included five petitions on five patents owned by SAP brought by the Teradata corporation; on the District Court side, lots of small-potatoes NPE campaigns complemented a number of WSOU filings against their latest target, Dell EMC, as well as a few small company disputes, and one suit against the Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada.