Cooper Notification, Inc. v. Twitter, Inc.

867 F. Supp. 2d 485, 2012 WL 2126903, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83270
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedMay 25, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 09-865-LPS
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 867 F. Supp. 2d 485 (Cooper Notification, Inc. v. Twitter, 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
Cooper Notification, Inc. v. Twitter, Inc., 867 F. Supp. 2d 485, 2012 WL 2126903, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83270 (D. Del. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

UNSEALED ON MAY 31, 2012

STARK, District Judge:

I. INTRODUCTION

Presently before the Court are numerous summary judgment and Daubert motions filed by Plaintiff Cooper Notification, Inc. (“Cooper”) and Defendants Twitter, Inc. (“Twitter”), Everbridge Inc. (“Ever-bridge”), and Federal Signal Corp. (“Federal Signal”) (collectively, “Defendants”). The Court heard oral argument on the parties’ motions on April 9, 2012. {See Motions Hr’g Tr., Apr. 9, 2012) (D.I. 555) (hereinafter “Tr.”) The Court has concluded that there is no genuine dispute that Defendants’ accused systems do not “transmit at least one gateway message to a plurality of the user terminals via the one or more communication gateways,” as required by the asserted claims. Accordingly, and for reasons further explained below, the Court will grant Defendants’ motions for summary judgment of non-infringement. (D.I. 386; D.I. 399; D.I. 412)

II. BACKGROUND

A. The '428 patent

United States Patent No. 7,409,428 (“the '428 patent”) is entitled “Systems and Methods for Messaging to Multiple Gateways,” and issued on August 5, 2008 to assignee Cooper Technologies Company. The '428 patent is directed generally to providing systems and methods for communication among multiple communication gateways for delivery to intended recipients with increased speed and reliability. {See '428 patent, col. 2 11. 55-60) The '428 patent contains a total of eighteen claims. Claims 1 and 12 are the only independent claims. While claims 1 through 11 are method claims, claims 12 through 18 are system claims.

B. Inter Partes Reexamination of the '428 Patent

Cooper filed suit against Defendants on November 13, 2009. (D.I. 1) On August 26, 2010, the Defendants filed a request for inter partes reexamination of the '428 pat[488]*488ent, seeking to invalidate all eighteen claims in view of four prior art references.1 Defendants’ request proposed seven separate grounds for rejection, including an assertion that numerous claims of the '428 patent were anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) by United States Patent No. 6,816,878 (“Zimmers”). On November 19, 2010, the Examiner issued an Office Action initially rejecting Claims 1-18 of the '428 patent. (D.I. 451, Ex. 9 at 3) Cooper and Defendants filed responses to the Office Action on January 19, 2011 and February 16, 2011, respectively.

On October 6, 2011, the Patent Office issued an Action Closing Prosecution in the inter partes reexamination proceedings. (Id., Ex. 8) The Examiner again rejected various claims, including Claim 1, as anticipated by Zimmers. (Id., Ex. 8 at 13, 17) Notably, however, the Examiner withdrew the rejections for several other claims, including Claim 12, which previously had been rejected as anticipated by Zimmers. (Id., Ex. 8 at 18) The Examiner explained that those rejections had been withdrawn in view of material differences that rendered Claim 12 patentably distinct from both Claim 1 and Zimmers:

Further, [Claim 12] requires that the first messaging subsystem “... is configured to transmit at least one gateway message to a plurality of user terminals via the one or more communication gateways, in accordance with each set of the unique message parameters for each communication gateway ...” which is not taught or suggested by Zimmers. Zimmers discloses that a gateway message (Table III packet) is transmitted to a gateway where an alert message is then created and transmitted to the user. The user does not receive a gateway message as is claimed.
In his Request, Requestor points to his analysis of claim 1 for the above limitations, yet such limitations are different than those in claim 1; the system of claim 1 creates a second message to send to the end users (as in Zimmers), rather than transmitting the gateway message to the user....

(Id., Ex. 8 at 21)2

C. The Markman Hearing and Withdrawal of Claims 1-11

On September 9, 2011, the Court held a Markman hearing. (D.I. 270) Subsequently, by letter dated November 30, 2011, Cooper notified the Court that it was no longer asserting Claims 1-11 of the '428 patent. (D.I. 331)3 On February 17, 2012, 2012 WL 528137, the Court issued an opinion and order construing the disputed terms of the '428 patent. (D.I. 455)

The parties filed numerous summary judgment and Daubert motions on January 24, 2012. (D.I. 382; D.I. 384; D.I. 386; D.I. 389; D.I. 391; D.I. 393; D.I. 396; D.I. 399; D.I. 401; D.I. 402; D.I. 405; D.I. 407; D.I. 412) Briefing on those motions was completed on March 23, 2012, and the Court held a hearing on April 9, 2012.

III. LEGAL STANDARDS

“The court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a [489]*489matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The moving party bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 n. 10, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). An assertion that a fact cannot be — or, alternatively, is — genuinely disputed must be supported either by citing to “particular parts of materials in the record, including depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations (including those made for the purposes of the motion only), admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials,” or by “showing that the materials cited do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute, or that an adverse party cannot produce admissible evidence to support the fact.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)(1)(A) & (B). If the moving party has carried its burden, the nonmovant must then “come forward with specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court will “draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, and it may not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence.” Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 150, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000).

To defeat a motion for summary judgment, the non-moving party must “do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348; see also Podobnik v. U.S. Postal Service, 409 F.3d 584, 594 (3d Cir.2005) (stating party opposing summary judgment “must present more than just bare assertions, conclusory allegations or suspicions to show the existence of a genuine issue”) (internal quotation marks omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
867 F. Supp. 2d 485, 2012 WL 2126903, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83270, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cooper-notification-inc-v-twitter-inc-ded-2012.