On August 14, 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued two final rulemakings regarding the Transitional Program for Covered Business Method Patents (also referred to as “Covered Business Method Patent Review” or “CBM”). This program, designed for the financial services sector, provides a way to challenge the patentability of qualifying patents in a wholly new contested CBM proceeding at the USPTO.

One final rulemaking (77 FR 48734) adopts, without change, the previously proposed definitions of “covered business method patent” and “technological invention” (now finalized as 37 C.F.R. § 42.301). These definitions will be used by the PTO to determine whether a patent is eligible for a CBM proceeding. Although no changes were made to the text of the rules, the PTO did provide several insights regarding its interpretation of these definitions...