PTO's Checklist for Business Method Patents

If you file a patent that has the misfortune of being treated as a "business method patent" by the PTO - meaning that it is in Class 705 - then there is a special checklist that the PTO will use during prosecution. Check out the Business Methods Allowance Checklist - one of several valuable resources on the PTO's page on business methods.

Business Methods Allowance Checklist

• Useful, concrete, and tangible result.


• Not a judicial exception per se.


• Not just data per se.


• Not simply automating a known or obvious process on a computer or on the internet.


• Not a computer program per se.


• Not merely non-functional data on a storage device, i.e., music on a cd.


• If functional signal is being claimed, must be statically embedded in a computer-readable medium.


• The feature that appears to distinguish over the prior art does not merely appear in a recitation of intended use, the name or title of a feature or in non-functional descriptive material.


• Searches for analogous art related to the distinguishing feature were conducted.


• The meanings attributed to the words of the claim are the plain, ordinary, meanings unless criteria for a special definition have been met.

*You must be able to answer yes to all of these statements.