A covered business method review is an adversarial procedure created by the AIA for challenging patents, similar to an IPR. Like an IPR, the parties argue before an Administrative Patent Judge, not a patent examiner and the challenger must show a reasonable likelihood of successfully invalidating one claim before the PTAB will agree to grant a petition for review. Unlike an IPR, a CBM can challenge a patent not just as invalid due to prior art, but also as invalid because it’s an abstract idea or because it fails to adequately define or describe the invention under 35 U.S.C. § 112. A CBM can only be filed against financial product/service patents that do not include a technical invention, while an IPR can be filed against any patent.
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