Ceiva Opco, LLC v. amazon.com, Inc.

Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit·Decided July 23, 2026·No. 24-1721·Unpublished

Opinion

Case: 24-1721 Document: 71 Page: 1 Filed: 07/23/2026

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

CEIVA OPCO, LLC, Plaintiff-Appellant

v.

AMAZON.COM, INC., Defendant-Appellee ______________________

2024-1721 ______________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California in No. 2:22-cv-02709-AB- MAA, Judge Andre Birotte, Jr. ______________________

Decided: July 23, 2026 ______________________

LAWRENCE MILTON HADLEY, Glaser Weil Fink Howard Jordan & Shapiro LLP, Los Angeles, CA, argued for plain- tiff-appellant. Also represented by RYAN BANKS, JASON LINGER, STEPHEN UNDERWOOD.

J. DAVID HADDEN, Fenwick & West LLP, Mountain View, CA, argued for defendant-appellee. Also represented by RAVI RAGAVENDRA RANGANATH, SAINA S. SHAMILOV; TODD RICHARD GREGORIAN, San Francisco, CA; JONATHAN G. TAMIMI, Seattle, WA. Case: 24-1721 Document: 71 Page: 2 Filed: 07/23/2026

______________________

Before MOORE, Chief Judge, LOURIE and REYNA, Circuit Judges. REYNA, Circuit Judge. Ceiva Opco, LLC appeals the United States District Court for the Central District of California’s grant of Ama- zon.com, Inc.’s motion for summary judgment of ineligibil- ity under 35 U.S.C. § 101. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings. BACKGROUND I. At issue in this appeal are four representative claims from four patents: claim 19 of U.S. Patent No. 6,442,573 (“’573 patent”), claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 9,203,930 (“’930 patent”), claim 16 of U.S. Patent No. 9,654,562 (“’562 pa- tent”), and claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 9,124,656 (“’656 pa- tent”). The patents are related and share a common specification that claims priority to an application filed De- cember 10, 1999. 1 J.A. 61, 1:31–32. The patents disclose methods and apparatuses for “distributing picture mail to a frame device community.” J.A. 61, 1:8–10. According to the specification, there were prior art dig- ital picture frames, such as the Sony “CyberFrame.” J.A. 61, 1:47–50. Figure 1A depicts the CyberFrame:

1 We cite to the common specification as it appears in the ’573 patent unless otherwise specified. Case: 24-1721 Document: 71 Page: 3 Filed: 07/23/2026

CEIVA OPCO, LLC v. AMAZON.COM, INC. 3

J.A. 49. Prior art digital picture frames were “isolated” devices, meaning that they did not have the ability to communicate with other devices “over a telecommunication medium.” J.A. 61, 2:28–32. This isolation resulted in three shortcom- ings, all relating to a requirement that a user be physically within reach of the digital picture frame. J.A. 61, 2:29–32. First, the data displayed on prior art devices was only ob- tainable from a storage media, such as a memory stick, re- quiring the user to “physically provide [the] storage media to the device.” J.A. 61, 2:15–17. Thus, “a person who [did] not have physical access to the device [could not] introduce new images into the device.” J.A. 61, 2:17–19. But even physical presence is not enough absent having in hand the storage media. Second, only a user who could physically push buttons on the prior art devices could adjust the set- tings of the devices. J.A. 61, 2:17–22; J.A. 49, Figure 1A. Finally, prior art devices could not be updated remotely to add new features, such as “automatically receiv[ing] differ- ent types of image data.” J.A. 61, 2:33–35. Case: 24-1721 Document: 71 Page: 4 Filed: 07/23/2026

The patents purport to overcome these shortcomings with an improved digital picture frame that is “self-config- uring” and that “obtains images for display and/or software from a data repository [e.g., database] via an interconnec- tion fabric (e.g. a computer network).” J.A. 64, 8:32–35; J.A. 64, 8:61–62. As a result, a user need not be within physical proximity of the frame to adjust its settings or to upload images. See J.A. 63, 6:39–41. “If a person . . . wants to display an image on the frame device the person may do so by transmitting the image data to the repository.” J.A. 63, 6:39–41. The user can access the data repository remotely “via a graphic user interface called a picture box,” which “is accessible via a web browser.” J.A. 63, 6:62–66. As a result, the owner of the digital picture frame need not upload images but can instead provide permission to a “parent” user, who can upload images to the device on the owner’s behalf. J.A. 68, 15:58–16:11. The specification also notes that the invention “mini- mizes the amount of complexity presented to the user.” J.A. 64, 8:42–45. For example, the specification explains that the device is “self-configuring and self-maintained” and “does not require input from the user to obtain new images and/or update the onboard software.” J.A. 65, 9:32–35, 10:2–3. In one embodiment, the device “begins to acquire configuration information by obtaining the toll free phone number stored in the devices’ memory and using that number to connect to a server computer.” J.A. 65, 9:35–39. Although the patents share a common specification, the four representative claims do not all share the same focus. Representative claim 19 of the ’573 patent, (i.e., the “digital picture frame” claim), recites a system of image data sharing via a “digital picture frame.” The remaining representative claims, (collectively, the “digital display de- vice” claims), each recite a system of image data sharing via a variation of a “digital display device.” Case: 24-1721 Document: 71 Page: 5 Filed: 07/23/2026

CEIVA OPCO, LLC v. AMAZON.COM, INC. 5

Claim 19 of the ’573 patent, the only claim which claims a “digital picture frame,” recites: 19. A system for distributing image data compris- ing: at least one digital picture frame comprising memory and operating system software located in- side said digital picture frame configured to oper- ate according to preferences defined by a user, said at least one digital picture frame comprising a bor- der region modeled to resemble a picture frame de- signed to circumscribe printed photographs; a user interface coupled to at least one server sys- tem via a network wherein said user interface is physically separable from said at least one digital picture frame and configured to obtain image data and said preferences from said user and provide said image data and said preferences to said at least one server system; said at least one server system coupled to said at least one digital picture frame via said network, wherein said at least one server system is config- ured to periodically relay said image data and said preferences to said at least one digital picture frame when said at least one digital picture frame automatically issues a request for said image data and wherein said at least one digital picture frame is configured to obtain an update for said operating system software from said at least one server sys- tem. J.A. 81, 4:16–39. Case: 24-1721 Document: 71 Page: 6 Filed: 07/23/2026

Claim 1 of the ’930 patent is representative of the digi- tal display device claims, and recites: 2 1.

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