Concaten, Inc. v. AmeriTrak Fleet Solutions, LLC

131 F. Supp. 3d 1166, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127679, 2015 WL 5579562
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedSeptember 23, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 14-cv-00790-PAB-NYW
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 131 F. Supp. 3d 1166 (Concaten, Inc. v. AmeriTrak Fleet Solutions, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Concaten, Inc. v. AmeriTrak Fleet Solutions, LLC, 131 F. Supp. 3d 1166, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127679, 2015 WL 5579562 (D. Colo. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

PHILIP A. BRIMMER, United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on the motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c) [Docket No. 32] filed by defendant AmeriTrak Fleet Solutions, LLC (“AmeriTrak”). The basis of AmeriTrak’s motion is that the patents-in-suit, which involve relaying weather and road data to and from snow plows, are drawn to ineligible subject matter. See Docket No. 32. The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

I. BACKGROUND1

Plaintiff Concaten, Inc. (“Concaten”) owns all right, title, and-interest to U.S. Patent Nos. 7,355,509 (the “ ’509 Patent”), 7,714,705 (the “’705 Patent”), 8,120,473 (the “’473' Patent”), 8,284,037 (the “’037‘ Patent”), and 8,497,769 (the “769 Patent”) (collectively, the “patents-in-suit” and, excluding the ’509 Patent, the “continuation patents”). Docket No. 7 at 1-2,. ¶ 1. Generally, the,patents-in-suit describe a “maintenance decision support system” (“MDSS”), which Concaten describes as a “computer-based system that.. .provides State transportation departments’ winter maintenance personnel with specific weather forecast information and treatment recommendations.” Docket No. 7 at 5-6, ¶ 11. The MDSS incorporates various- technological components, including automated vehicle location (also known as global positioning satellite, or “GPS”), and mobile data collection. Id.. The patents-in-suit, according to, Concaten, “allow transportation departments’ managers, vehicle... operators and other personnel to monitor current/real-time data from vehicles in the field.” Id. at 6, ¶ 12. Concaten alleges that AmeriTrak infringes one or more claims of the patents-in-suit by making, using, offering, providing, offering to sell, and/or selling “an array of MDSS related products and/or services... to its customers that embody the patented-systems and/or substantially rely upon the information and data collected and transmitted via the patented systems.” Id. at 6-7, ¶ 13.2

The ’509 Patent, which is the parent application of the other patents-in-suit, is titled “Smart Modem Device for Vehicular and Roadside Applications.” Docket No. 7-1 at 1. Claim 1 of the ’509 Patent3 reads:

1. A data collection and transmission system, comprising:
[1170]*1170at least one of a sensor and user interface operable to collect information regarding vehicle state and/or vehicle occupants;
at least one slot operable to receive a selected network card, the at least one slot being configured to receive cards of multiple private and/or public networks;
a plurality of sets of connection manag- ’ ers and monitors corresponding to different types and/or origins of network cards, each set comprising at least one connection manager to interact with the corresponding network card in establishing a connection with the corresponding wireless network and connection monitor to monitor a state of the connection and at least one of the connection manager and monitor of a first set being different than a corresponding at least one of the connection manager and monitor of a second set; and
a system manager operable to determine a type and/or origin of network card and select and cause execution of the corresponding connection manager and monitor set to set up a connection with the network corresponding to the determined type and/or origin of network card.

Id, at 23.

The ’705 Patent is titled “Maintenance Decision Support System and Method.” Docket No. 7-2 at 1. Claim 1 of the ’705 Patent reads:

1. A method, comprising:
(a)receiving over a wireless cellular network, from a plurality of snow maintenance vehicles and by a server, a plurality of sets of collected information, each of the collected sets of information comprising a snow maintenance vehicle physical location and at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of the respective snow maintenance vehicle;
(b) processing, by the server, the received collected information to (i) provide a map associated with a physical location of a selected snow maintenance vehicle and (ii) determine an instruction for an operator of the selected snow maintenance vehicle; and
(c) providing, over the wireless cellular network, the map and an operator instruction to the selected snow maintenance vehicle of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, wherein the map is visually displayed, by a touch screen monitor, to the operator and wherein the operator instruction to the selected snow maintenance vehicle operator comprises one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface.

Docket No. 7-2 at 30.

AmeriTrak argues that the claims describe subject matter that is not eligible for patent protection because they merely recite the abstract idea of data collection and transmission performed using generic computer components. The Court held a Markman hearing on August 13, 2015, see [1171]*1171Docket No. 69, but has not issued a claim construction ruling.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The Court reviews a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) much as it would a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). See Park Univ. Enters,, 442 F.3d at 1244 (“We review a district court’s grant of a motion for judgment on the pleadings de novo, using the same standard that applies to a Rule 12(b)(6) motion.”). Accordingly, the- Court “accept[s] all facts pleaded by the non-moving party as true and grant[s] all reasonable inferences from the pleadings in favor'of the same.” Id. “Judgment on the pleadings is appropriate only when ‘the moving party has clearly established that no material issue of fact remains to. be resolved and the party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.’ ” Sanders v. Mountain Am. Fed. Credit Union, 689 F.3d 1138, 1141 (10th Cir.2012) (quoting Park Univ., 442 F-3d at 1244).

In ruling on whether a patent or patents claim eligible' subject matter pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 101, the Court need not first engage in claim construction. Cybetfone Sys., L.L:C. v. CNN Interactive Grp., 558 FedAppx; 988, 991 n. 1 (Fed.Cir.

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131 F. Supp. 3d 1166, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127679, 2015 WL 5579562, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/concaten-inc-v-ameritrak-fleet-solutions-llc-cod-2015.