Clouding IP, LLC v. Google Inc.

61 F. Supp. 3d 421, 2014 WL 3767489
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedJuly 28, 2014
DocketC.A. Nos. 12-639-LPS, 12-641-LPS, 12-675-LPS, 13-1338-LPS, 13-1341-LPS, 13-1342-LPS, 13-1453-LPS, 13-1454-LPS, 13-1455-LPS, 13-1456-LPS, 13-1458-LPS
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 61 F. Supp. 3d 421 (Clouding IP, LLC v. Google Inc.) 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
Clouding IP, LLC v. Google Inc., 61 F. Supp. 3d 421, 2014 WL 3767489 (D. Del. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

STARK, U.S. District Judge:

Presently before the Court are Defendants’ motions to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Defendants argue that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the present actions because Plaintiff lacks standing to sue on its own. Defendants assert two primary grounds for dismissal: first, that Plaintiff was not transferred all substantial rights in the patents-in-suit and, second, that the assignment of those rights to Plaintiff is void as champertous.

The Court concludes that Plaintiff does not have standing because it lacks all substantial rights in the patents-in-suit. Thus, the Court will grant Defendants’ motion to dismiss. The Court will deny as moot Defendants’ motion to dismiss on the basis that the purported assignment is void as champertous.1

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Clouding IP, LLC (“Plaintiff’ or “Clouding”) entered into a Patent Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) and a related Patent Assignment Agreement (“Assignment”) with Symantec Corporation (“Symantec”) with respect to the patents-in-suit. (Declaration of Dorian Berger (“Berger Deck”) [427]*427Ex. A, B) (hereinafter, “Agreement”)2 The Agreement covered the purported sale to Clouding of all title, rights, and interest in the patents, subject to provisions by which Symantec retained particular rights in the patents. (PPA § 4.1)3 In exchange, Symantec received a stream of guaranteed payments and a percentage of future licensing and enforcement revenue from the patents. (Id. § 3.2)

II. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On May 22, 2012, Clouding filed multiple, related patent infringement actions against several defendants, including Google Inc. (“Google”) (C.A. No. 12-639-LPS D.I. 1) and Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon Web Services LLC (collectively, “Amazon”) (C.A. No. 12-641-LPS D.I. 1). On May 29, 2012, Clouding sued Rackspace Hosting, Inc., Rackspace US, Inc., and Jungle Disk, LLC (collectively, “Racks-pace”). (C.A. No. 12-675-LPS) Thereafter, Clouding filed additional actions against CA Technologies Inc. (“CA Technologies”) (C.A. No. 13-1338-LPS D.I. 1), Hewlett-Packard Company (“HP”) (C.A. No. 13-1341-LPS D.I. 1), and AT & T Inc.4 (“AT & T”) (C.A. No. 13-1342-LPS D.I. 1) on July 26, 2013; and then against Citrix Systems Inc. (“Citrix”) (C.A. No. 13-1453-LPS D.I. 1), Dropbox Inc. (“Dropbox”) (C.A. No. 13-1454-LPS D.I. 1), EMC Corporation, EMC International U.S. Holdings, Inc., and VMware, Inc. (collectively, “EMC”) (C.A. No. 13-1455-LPS D.I. 1), SAP AG and SAP America, Inc. (collectively, “SAP”) (C.A. No. 13-1456-LPS D.I. 1), and Verizon Online LLC, Terremark North America LLC, and Verizon Business Network Services Inc. (collectively, “Verizon”) (C.A. No. 13-1458-LPS D.I. 1) on August 17, 2013 (collectively, “Defendants”).

The complaints allege infringement of various patents in different combinations for each Defendant, with a total of 14 patents asserted by Clouding across all related actions.5 The patents-in-suit concern a range of apparatuses and systems related to computer hardware engineering and architecture, distributed and “virtual” computing, network resource allocation and management, communication protocols and security, and data indexing and storage.

On September 26, 2013, Amazon filed its Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction based on Plaintiff s Lack of Standing. (C.A. No. 12-641-LPS D.I. 112) The parties completed briefing on October 25, 2013. (C.A. No. 12-641-LPS D.I. 113, 129, 130, 138) On September 30, 2013, Google filed its Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Standing, Including on the Basis that the Purported Assignment of Patent Rights to Clouding IP, LLC is [428]*428Void as Champertous. (C.A. No. 12-639-LPS D.I. 101) The parties completed briefing on October 28, 2013. (C.A. No. 12-639-LPS D.I. 102, 119, 120, 128) On December 20, 2013, EMC and Rackspace filed their Motions to Dismiss for Lack of Standing. (C.A. No. 13-1455-LPS D.I. 32; C.A. No. 12-675-LPS D.I. 166) Briefing on these motions was completed on January 15) 2014. (C.A. No. 13-1455-LPS D.I. 33, 39, 40, 42; C.A. No. 12-675-LPS D.I. 167, 168, 171, 172, 175) All Defendants in all related actions have filed or joined in a motion to dismiss for lack of standing.

The Court heard argument on all the motions on January 31, 2014. (C.A. No. 12-639-LPS D.I. 156) (hereinafter “Tr.”).

III. LEGAL STANDARDS

A. Motion to Dismiss

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) authorizes dismissal of a complaint for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter. As the question of subject matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1) is not unique to patent law, it is governed by the law of the regional Circuit — here the Third Circuit. See Toxgon Corp. v. BNFL, Inc., 312 F.3d 1379, 1380 (Fed.Cir.2002) (“We review a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction according to regional circuit law, since it is a procedural question not unique to patent law.”).

Motions brought under Rule 12(b)(1) may present either a facial or factual challenge to the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction. See Gould Elec, Inc. v. United States, 220 F.3d 169, 176 (3d Cir.2000). In reviewing a factual challenge to the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction, the Court is not confined to the allegations of the complaint, and the presumption of truthfulness does not attach to those allegations. See Mortensen v. First Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n, 549 F.2d 884, 891 (3d Cir.1977). Instead, the Court may consider evidence outside the pleadings, including affidavits, depositions, and testimony, to resolve any factual issues bearing on jurisdiction. See Gotha v. United States, 115 F.3d 176, 179 (3d Cir.1997). Once the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction is challenged, the plaintiff bears the burden of proving jurisdiction exists. See Mortensen, 549 F.2d at 891.

B. Standing

“Standing must be present at the time the suit is brought.” Sicom Sys., Ltd. v. Agilent Techs., Inc., 427 F.3d 971, 975-76 (Fed.Cir.2005). If a plaintiff lacks standing at that time, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and the case must be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1). See generally Ballentine v. United States, 486 F.3d 806, 810 (3d Cir.2007). The party “bringing the action bears the burden of establishing that it has standing.” Sicom, 427 F.3d at 976.

Standing “is comprised of both constitutional and prudential components.” Oxford Assocs. v. Sys. Auth., 271 F.3d 140, 145 (3d Cir.2001).

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Bluebook (online)
61 F. Supp. 3d 421, 2014 WL 3767489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clouding-ip-llc-v-google-inc-ded-2014.