The American Bankers Association joined a group of financial and retail trade groups in a letter to Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) expressing support for a one-year extension of the Covered Business Method program, which protects the rights of legitimate patent holders while providing an efficient alternative to patent litigation over questionable patents.
The groups noted that the program—which was established in 2012—has been working but said that “some patent owners may be waiting to assert their business method patents until after the CBM program has expired.” They warned that “if these patents are asserted without the CBM program in place, the end result will be a tax on our economy at a time when many of our members are fighting to recover from the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
