Transitional Program for Covered Business Method Patents

The transitional program for covered business method patents (TPCBM) is a trial proceeding conducted at the Board to review the patentability of one or more claims in a covered business method patent. TPCBM proceedings employ the standards and procedures of a post grant review, with certain exceptions. For example, for first to invent patents only a subset of prior art is available to support the petition. Further, a person may not file a petition for a TPCBM proceeding unless the person or the person's real party in interest or privy has been sued for infringement of the patent or charged with infringement under the patent. The procedure for conducting TPCBM review took effect on September 16, 2012, but only applies to covered business method patents. The program will sunset for new TPCBM petitions on September 16, 2020.