Callwave Communications, LLC v. AT & T Mobility, LCC

207 F. Supp. 3d 405
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedSeptember 15, 2016
DocketCivil Action No. 12-1701-RGA, Civil Action No. 12-1704-RGA, Civil Action No. 12-1788-RGA
StatusPublished

This text of 207 F. Supp. 3d 405 (Callwave Communications, LLC v. AT & T Mobility, LCC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Callwave Communications, LLC v. AT & T Mobility, LCC, 207 F. Supp. 3d 405 (D. Del. 2016).

Opinion

Memorandum Opinion

ANDREWS, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE:

Presently before the Court in these related cases are the Defendants’ renewed motions for judgment on the pleadings that the asserted claims of the ’970 patent are invalid under § 101. (C.A. No. 12-1701-RGA, D.I. 439; C.A. No. 12-1704-RGA, D.I. 419; CA. No. 12-1788-RGA, D.I. 249).1 The motions have been fully briefed. (D.I. 440, 452, 462). The Court held oral argument on March 16, 2016. (D.I. 532). For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant Defendants’ § 101 motions.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff filed this patent infringement lawsuit asserting eight different patents against the above-captioned Defendants on December 12, 2012. (D.I. 1). The Court divided the cases into three tracks, including one track that only involves U.S, Patent No. 6,771,970 (“the ’970 patent”). (D.I. 57 at 3-4). Certain Defendants previously filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings that the asserted claims of the ’970 patent were invalid. (D.I. 257). However, on March 18, 2015, the Court stayed the ’970 patent track after the PTAB instituted inter partes review on all claims of the ’970 patent. (D.I. 342 at 2-3). That same day, the Court also dismissed the Defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings as to the ’970 patent, with leave to renew upon the expiration of the stay of the ’970 track. (D.I. 343). The Court lifted the stay on October 7, 2015. (D.I. 424), Defendants then filed renewed motions for judgment on the pleadings, alleging that all remaining asserted claims of the ’970 patent are invalid under § 101.

The ’970 patent, entitled “Location Determination System,” is directed to various systems and methods of determining the location of “mobile platforms.” The specification explains that various existing location tracking service providers “collect[s] data using different technologies and store[s] this data in its own proprietary format,” “resulting] in confusion for customers who need to consider the various advantages, disadvantages, and cost implications associated with each of the various location systems offered by service providers.” (’970 patent, col. 1, 11. 38-50). The ’970 patent purports to “simplify the process by allowing inter alia extraction of information from multiple tracking service providers” and “obviate[e] the need to install and use a cumbersome vehicle tracking software.” (Id. col. 1, 11. 61-67). Plaintiff asserts claims 14-17, and 19, which are [409]*409directed to methods of determining the location of “mobile platforms” and various computer-based systems for performing the claimed methods.

II. LEGAL STANDARDS

A. Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings

A Rule 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings is reviewed under the same standard as a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss when the Rule 12(c) motion alleges that the plaintiff failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Turbe v. Gov’t of the Virgin Islands, 938 F.2d 427, 428 (3d Cir. 1991); Revell v. Port Auth., 598 F.3d 128, 134 (3d Cir. 2010). The court must accept the factual allegations in the complaint and take them in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007); Christopher v. Harbury, 536 U.S. 403, 406, 122 S.Ct. 2179, 153 L.Ed.2d 413 (2002). “When there are well-ple[d] factual allegations, a court should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). The court must “draw on its judicial experience and common sense” to make the determination whether plaintiff failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Oneida Motor Freight, Inc. v. United Jersey Bank, 848 F.2d 414, 416 n.3 (3d Cir. 1988).

B. Patent-Eligible Subject Matter

Section 101 of the Patent Act defines patent-eligible subject matter. It provides: “Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.” 35 U.S.C. § 101. The Supreme Court has recognized an implicit exception for three categories of subject matter not eligible for patentability—laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas. Alice Corp. Pty. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 566 U.S. 66, 134 S.Ct. 2347, 2354, 189 L.Ed.2d 296 (2014). The purpose of these carve outs is to protect the “basic tools of scientific and technological work.” Mayo Collaborative Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., 566 U.S. 66, 132 S.Ct. 1289, 1293, 182 L.Ed.2d 321 (2012). “[A] process is not unpatentable simply because it contains a law of nature or a mathematical algorithm,” as “an application of a law of nature or mathematical formula to a known structure or process may well be deserving of patent protection.” Id. at 1293-94 (internal quotation marks and emphasis omitted). In order “to transform an unpatentable law of nature into a patent-eligible application of such a law, one must do more than simply state the law of nature while adding the words ‘apply it.’ ” Id. at 1294 (emphasis omitted).

The Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the framework laid out in Mayo “for distinguishing patents that claim laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas from those that claim patent-eligible applications of those concepts.” Alice, 134 S.Ct. at 2355. First, the court must determine whether the claims are drawn to a patent-ineligible concept. Id. If the answer is yes, the court must look to “the elements of the claim both individually alid as an ‘ordered combination’” to see if there is an “ ‘inventive concept’—i.e., an element or combination of elements that is ‘sufficient to ensure that the patent in practice amounts to significantly more than a patent upon the [ineligible concept] itself,’” Id. (alteration in original). “A claim that recites an abstract idea must include ‘additional features’ to ensure ‘that the [claim] is more than a drafting effort [410]*410designed to monopolize the [abstract idea].’ ” Id. at 2357 (alterations in original) (quoting Mayo, 132 S.Ct. at 1297). “[S]im~ ply appending conventional steps, specified at a high level of generality, to ... abstract ideas cannot make those ... ideas patentable.” Mayo, 132 S.Ct. at 1300. Further, “the prohibition against patenting abstract ideas cannot be circumvented by attempting to limit the use of [the idea] to a particular technological environment.” Alice, 134 S.Ct. at 2358 (quoting Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 593, 610-11, 130 S.Ct. 3218, 177 L.Ed.2d 792 (2010)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
207 F. Supp. 3d 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/callwave-communications-llc-v-at-t-mobility-lcc-ded-2016.