Posts Tagged: "Covered Business"

Uber is initiating a patent purchase program and is accepting submissions through May 23, 2017. British musician Ed Sheeran settles a copyright infringement suit that alleged “Photograph” was infringing. The Ninth Circuit deals a blow to websites that allow users to post photographs of celebrities, ruling that summary judgment was inappropriate and that agency theory is applicable under DMCA safe harbor provisions. The Andy Warhol Foundation preemptively files a DJ action against a photographer, the Federal Circuit denies rehearing in Unwired Planet v. Google, the ITC takes judicial notice of the PTAB refusing to institute IPR proceedings, and IBM teams with Teva Pharmaceuticals to apply cognitive tools to drug discovery.

In a surprisingly restrained decision, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) released a decision denying institution of a covered business method (CBM) review proceeding on a patent that is tangentially related to financial activity… Ford alleged that its claim was further supported by the ‘080 patent’s description of market regions for which the consolidated models could be constructed. “The configuration process/system claimed in the ‘080 patent is at least ‘incidental to’ or ‘complementary to’ a financial activity, such as the sale of automobiles,” Ford’s petition reads.

Another covered business method review is overturned by the Federal Circuit because the Patent Trial and Appeal Board instituted a CBM on a patent that was not a CBM patent. China leads the world not only in stealing digital images protected by copyright but also in terms of trademark applications filed. The Catholic Church starts to take action in protecting its own intellectual property. Also, Alphabet’s self-driving car subsidiary files a lawsuit including patent and trade secret claims against ride sharing giant Uber.

One Administrative Patent Judge — Judge Meredith Petravick — dissented. Petravick said it was inappropriate for the PTAB to terminate the ‘304 patent CBM because the parties were different when compared to the Federal Circuit case. Petravick said that the review should be limited to the record of the ‘304 patent and not consider extraneous, out of record matters such as a Federal Circuit determination that the very same claims are, in fact, patent eligible. Petravick dissented saying that he would find the claims to the graphical user interface just found patent eligible by the Federal Circuit to be patent ineligible.

Earlier today the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) declined to institute a covered business method (CBM) review of U.S. Patent No. 6,006,227, which is owned by Mirror World Technologies, LLC. The decision is significant not only because the PTAB refused to institute a covered business method review, but because the panel — Administrative Patent Judges Thomas Giannetti, David McKone, and Barbara Parvis — cited the Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Enfish v. Microsoft when they found that the challenged claims of the ‘227 patent were not abstract.

On November 5, 2015, patent owner Retirement Capital Access Management Company LLC filed the most important cert petition this term. This bold effort squarely presents a question circling around academic circles for years: whether the USPTO has the authority to address section 101 (subject matter eligibility) within Covered Business Method (CBM) reviews. To the untrained eye, this issue might sound wonky, jargony, technical and narrow. It is instead profound. If granted, the petition might help restore much needed certainty to the innovation ecosystem.