HP Inc. v. MPHJ Technology Investment., LLC

817 F.3d 1339, 118 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1438, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 6172, 2016 WL 1320920
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit·Decided April 5, 2016·No. 2015-1427·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

LOURIE, Circuit Judge.

HP Inc. (“HP”) appeals from the final decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) in an inter partes review (“IPR”) proceeding finding claims 1-12, 14, and 15 of U.S. Patent 6,771,381 (the “'381 patent”), owned by MPHJ Technology Investments (“MPHJ”), unpatentable as anticipated, and finding claim 13 of the '38Í patent not unpatentable as anticipated. See Hewlett-Packard Co. v. MPHJ Tech. Invs., LLC, IPR2013-00309, 2014 WL 6617698 (P.T.A.B. Nov. 19, 2014) (“Final Decision ”). HP argues that the Board erred by not also finding claim 13 unpatentable as anticipated, and challenges the Board’s *1342 decision not to review whether claim 13 is unpatentable as obvious. Because the Board did not err and because we cannot review the decision not to 'instituté, we affirm.

BackgRound

MPHJ is the owner of the '381 patent, entitled “Distributed Computer Architecture and Process for Virtual Copying,” which issued on August 3, 2004. The '381 patent discloses a method and system that “extend[ ] the notion of copying ... to a process that involves paper being scanned from a device at one location and copied to a device at another location.” '381 patent col. 5 11. 47-51. “What makes Virtual Copier as simple as its physical countér-part ... is the fact that it replicates the identical motions that a user who is making a copy using a physical photocopier goes through.” Id. col. 6 11. 47-51. Claim 13, the only claim at issue in this appeal, reads as follows:

13. A computer data management system including a server module comprising:
enable virtual copy operation means for initiating, canceling, and resetting said computer data management system; maintain list of available module means for maintaining a registry containing a list of said input, output, and process modules that can be used in said, computer data management system, said list being read on startup, and maintaining another copy of said list in a modules object accessible by said input, output, client, process and server modules;
maintain currently active modules means for maintaining said input, output, and process modules currently be- - ing used for a current computer data management system copy operating in a program object, and saving the current- . ly active modules in a process template file; and
maintain complete document information means for maintaining information regarding a current file being copied, and saving the information in a document ■ template file.

Id. col. 87 1. 45-col. 88 1. 6 (emphasis added). Claim 13 thus requires, inter alia, a list of available modules, including input, output, and process modules. See id.

After acquiring the '381 patent, MPHJ sent letters to numerous small businesses, alleging that those .businesses likely infringed the '381 patent, among others. Joint Appendix (“J.A”) 2228-29. As “[a] good example of an infringing system,” the letter described a scanner connected to a local area network in communication with a server, whereby an employee could scan documents at the scanner and have the documents sent to the employee’s email address. J.A. 2229.

Because the letters were sent to users of HP’s multi-function printers, HP peti-tionéd for IPR of the '381 patent. ‘ In its petition, HP alleged that the claims of the '381 patent were unpatentable either as anticipated or as obvious. J.A. 94. HP alleged seven grounds of anticipation and one ground of obviousness. J.A. 2229. This appeal only implicates three grounds: Ground 1, that all claims are unpatentable as anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) 1 by HP ScanJet 5 Scanner User’s Guide (“SJ5”), the user’s guide for one of HP’s network scanners; Ground 6, that all claims are unpatentable as anticipated by *1343 U.S. Patent 5,499,108 (“Cotte”), which is directed to a network scanner; and Ground 8, that claims 5, 7, 9,11-13, and 15 are unpatentable as obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over .an HP ScanJet 5 Press Release describing the SJ5 scanner (“SJ5PR”), in view of SJ5. J.A. 2229.

The Board instituted review of all of the claims of the '381 patent, finding that HP established a reasonable likelihood that the claims were unpatentable as anticipated by either Cotte or SJ5. J.A. 33, 38. The Board declined to institute review based on the other asserted grounds of unpatent-ability, concluding that “[t]he additional grounds are ... redundant in light of the determination that there is a reasonable likelihood that the challenged claims are unpatentable based on the grounds of un-patentability on which we institute an inter partes review.” J.A. 38. As authority for denying review based on redundancy, the Board cited 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(a), which provides that “[w]hen instituting inter partes review, the Board may authorize the review to proceed on all or some of the challenged claims and on all or some of the grounds of unpatentability asserted for each claim.” HP did not seek rehearing of that decision. See 37 C.F.R. § 42.71.

After institution, MPHJ filed a response, HP filed a reply, and the Board held an oral hearing. J.A..42. During the hearing, Administrative Patent Judge Easthom questioned counsel for HP regarding whether the “maintain list of available module means” limitation was taught by SJ5. See J.A. 2877-79, Specifically, Judge Eas-thom asked counsel for HP to identify the process and server modules appearing in SJ5. J.A. 2879. Counsel responded that “[t]here is no specific name” for those modules. J.A. 2879.

In the final written decision, issued November 19, 2014, the Board found that claims 1-12, 14, and 15 were unpatentable as anticipated by Cotte. Final Decision, at *16-29. The Board found that Cotte did not anticipate claim 13 because HP did not establish that Cotte disclosed the claimed list of available module means. Id. at *28729. In reaching that conclusion, the Board cited the exchange between Judge Easthom and counsel for HP at oral argument, and noted that HP did not “point out the specific list or show it is read on start-up.” Id.

The Board then analyzed whether claim 13 was unpatentable as anticipated by SJ5. Id. at *29-30. The Board noted that HP did not'respond to MPHJ’s arguments that claim 13 was not anticipated,' and again cited the exchange at oral argument. Id. Moreover, the Board reasoned that, although “[t]he Petition generally refers to the analysis of claims 1,2, and 7 to address the limitations in claim 13 ..., those claims recite different elements.” Id. at *30.

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HP Inc. v. MPHJ Technology Investment., LLC, 817 F.3d 1339, 118 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1438, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 6172, 2016 WL 1320920 (Fed. Cir. 2016).

817 F.3d 1339 (HP Inc. v. MPHJ Technology Investment., LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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