Friskit, Inc. v. RealNetworks, Inc.

499 F. Supp. 2d 1145, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54192, 2007 WL 2156239
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJuly 26, 2007
DocketC 03-05085 WWS
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 499 F. Supp. 2d 1145 (Friskit, Inc. v. RealNetworks, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Friskit, Inc. v. RealNetworks, Inc., 499 F. Supp. 2d 1145, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54192, 2007 WL 2156239 (N.D. Cal. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

SCHWARZER, Senior District Judge.

Friskit, Inc. filed this action on June 27, 2003, against RealNetworks, Inc., and Listen.com (collectively Real) alleging infringement of three patents. During the course of the litigation, Friskit added two more patents, with the following five patents constituting those in issue:

United States Patent No. 6,389,467 ('467 Patent) (filed May 2, 2000) entitled “Streaming Media Search and Continuous Playback System of Media Resources Located by Multiple Network Addresses”;
United States Patent No. 6,484,199 ('199 Patent) (filed Mar. 22, 2002) entitled “Streaming Media Search and Playback System for Continuous Playback of Media Resources Through a Network”; United States Patent No. 6,519,648 ('648 Patent) (filed July 11, 2000) entitled “Streaming Media Search and Playback of Multiple Media Resources Located on a Network”;
United States Patent No. 6,725,275 ('275 Patent) (filed Sept. 20, 2002) entitled “Streaming Media Search and Continuous Playback of Multiple Media Resources Located on a Network”;
United States Patent No. 6,735,628 ('628 Patent) (filed Sept. 20, 2002) entitled “Media Search and Continuous Playback of Multiple Media Resources Distributed on a Network.”

Friskit is the owner of the above patents. Real is a provider of digital audio and video products and services, including RealOne Player Plus which delivers content subscription services and allows its users, inter alia, to search for streaming media files, create custom playlists, and listen to the streaming media files sequen *1147 tially and continuously. Listen.com is an online music distribution company that develops and distributes Rhapsody, a digital music subscription service. Rhapsody allows its users, inter alia, to search for streaming media files, create custom play-lists, and listen to the streaming media files sequentially and continuously. In August 2003, RealNetworks acquired Listen.com. Friskit alleges that the RealOne Player Plus and subscription service and Listen’s Rhapsody service infringe the patents in suit. As described in one of the patents, Friskit’s “invention relates to the field of streaming media content search and playback over a network. In particular, the invention relates to a computer system that enables a continuous streaming media playback from a distribution of sites available over a network such as the Internet.” '648 Patent col.l 1.21-27.

At the court’s instance, and without objection, Friskit limited the scope of the litigation to eight claims: patent '467 claims 35 and 52; patent '648 claims 49 and 52; patent '275 claims 6, 16, and 38; and patent '628 claim 12. Before the court is defendants’ motion for summary judgment for obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Discovery has been completed and the court has heard oral argument.

I. LEGAL STANDARDS

A. Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). In applying this standard, the court must view the record before it in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The moving party bears the burden of establishing the absence of a genuine issue of fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Once the moving party has met its burden, the non-moving party “must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); Brinson v. Linda Rose Joint Venture, 53 F.3d 1044, 1049 (9th Cir.1995).

B. Obviousness

A patent is presumed valid. See 35 U.S.C. § 282. Establishing invalidity requires clear and convincing evidence. Moba B.V. v. Diamond Automation, Inc., 325 F.3d 1306, 1319 (Fed.Cir.2003). Under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) “[a] patent may not be obtained ... if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains.” In Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 86 S.Ct. 684, 15 L.Ed.2d 545 (1966), the Supreme Court set out the framework for applying § 103’s statutory language:

Under § 103, the scope and content of the prior art are to be determined; differences between the prior art and the claims at issue are to be ascertained; and the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art resolved. Against this background, the obviousness or nonobvi-ousness of the subject matter is determined. Such secondary considerations as commercial success, long felt but unsolved needs, failure of others, etc., might be utilized to give light to the circumstances surrounding the origin of *1148 the subject matter sought to be patented.

Id. at 17-18, 86 S.Ct. 684.

II. ANALYSIS

A. The Prior Art

Following the framework in Graham, the court must determine the “scope and content of the prior art.” Id. at 17, 86 S.Ct. 684. At the time Friskit filed its patent application in early 2000, computer users could listen to music from the internet by either downloading or streaming songs onto their computers. Streaming content — including music, video clips, and animation — need not be downloaded, though small parts of the file may be temporarily saved on a user’s computer. Friskit’s Summ. J. Mot. 2-3; '628 Patent col.l 1.33-35. All of the individual features of Friskit’s patents which allow a user to easily search for and listen to streaming media existed in the prior art. 1

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499 F. Supp. 2d 1145, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54192, 2007 WL 2156239, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/friskit-inc-v-realnetworks-inc-cand-2007.