Law360, New York ( August 4, 2014, 10:28 AM EDT) -- ​Congress enacted the transitional program for post-grant review of covered business method ("CBM") patents by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board as a quick and cost-effective way to adjudicate the validity of business method patents. In determining whether to institute a patent trial, the board normally decides, as a threshold matter, whether the challenged patent qualifies as a covered business method. Over the first 18 months of the CBM program, the board always reached the same result in this threshold inquiry, finding in over 50 CBM petitions that the challenged patent was a covered business method. One could not be blamed for thinking that any patent asserted against e-commerce or other online business initiatives would qualify for review under the CBM program....