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The U.S. Patent and Trade Office's final rule on business-practice patents will be published in the Federal Register today.

Like the proposed rule released in February, the final rule implements NAFCU-supported policy designed to make it easier for credit unions and others to challenge patents for poor-quality business methods. The rule would allow the parties in a patent-infringement suit to request a USPTO review of a patent's validity, a step that could shorten litigation significantly. More specifically, it would offer credit unions a better mechanism for reviews of "covered business patents" in dispute.

In commenting on the proposed rule back in February, NAFCU was joined by more than a dozen financial industry trades in suggesting changes to the rule to improve it. The final rule goes into effect Sept. 16.

The business-practice patent rule was one of five rules proposed by the USPTO to implement the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, signed by the president last September. Two other rules – the inter partes review and the post-grant review – were also published in the Aug. 14 Federal Register.

The USPTO has published four separate notices in the Federal Register about the final rules. One sets forth definitions for the terms "covered business method patent" and "technological invention" that will be used during business method patent review proceedings. More information about these definitions can be found here.

The USPTO said Monday that it plans to discuss the final rules at a series of upcoming "roadshows" in September in Alexandria, Va., Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and New York. More information about the events can be found here.

More information about the final rules can be found here.