As the Curtain Falls on CBM Review, What’s Next for Financial Institutions?

From 2012 to 2020, the transitional Covered Business Method (CBM) review program allowed anyone who believed that a patent was directed to a “covered business method” such as certain financial services or products, to petition the Patent Office to reconsider its patentability. This review often included whether the patent claimed patent-ineligible subject matter or was anticipated or obvious over the prior art. This program proved itself a powerful shield to financial institutions, many of whom found themselves accused of infringing patents directed to everything from portfolio management to methods for depositing checks. Of all CBM cases that reached a final decision through March 2020, more than 95% found at least one claim in the reviewed patents to be invalid.

In the year since the CBM review program closed its doors, patent suits against financial institutions like JP Morgan Chase Bank and Bank of America have almost tripled. Industry trade associations are now increasingly concerned that “patent assertion entities have been waiting for the expiration of the CBM review program” and that suits involving business method patents will continue to ramp up into 2022. Without the reliable shield of CBM review, many financial institutions will need to consider alternative methods of quickly dispensing with business method patents before being subject to invasive and costly discovery.

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