The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has denied an en banc review of a decision tackling the scope of covered business method (CBM) patents. In a 40-page opinion handed down on June 6, the Federal Circuit voted 6-5 to deny rehearing of Secure Axcess v PNC Bank, a ruling made in February.
In the February decision, the Federal Circuit held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) had adopted a statutory definition of CBM patents that went too far. The decision had been made in light of Unwired Planet v Google (November 2016), which found that the board’s adopted characterisation of CBM scope in that case was contrary to the statute. According to the court in Unwired Planet, the PTAB’s interpretation of which patents are subject to CBM reviews renders the limits that Congress placed on the definition as “superfluous”.

Source: WIPR