Identity Security LLC v. Apple, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedNovember 2, 2022
Docket1:22-cv-00058
StatusUnknown

This text of Identity Security LLC v. Apple, Inc. (Identity Security LLC v. Apple, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Identity Security LLC v. Apple, Inc., (W.D. Tex. 2022).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS NOV 2 2022 AUSTIN DIVISION oe CLERK. U SDigitdi □□□□□ WESTERN DIRERICK OF TEXAS IDENTITY SECURITY LLC, § BY \ PLAINTIFF, § UV DEPUTY § V. § § CAUSE NO. 1:22-CV-58-LY APPLE, INC., § DEFENDANT. §

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON CLAIMS CONSTRUCTION Before the court are the parties’ Joint Claim Construction Statement filed January 7, 2022 (Doc. #50), Defendant Apple, Inc.’s (“Apple”) Opening Claim Construction Brief (Doc. #32), Plaintiff Identity Security LLC’s (“Identity”) Responsive Claim Construction Brief (Doc. #33), Apple’s Reply Claim Construction Brief (Doc. #41), Identity’s Sur-Reply Claim Construction Brief (Doc. #44), Identity’s Motion to Supplement Claim Construction Record (Doc. #67), and all related briefing. The court held a claim-construction hearing on March 9, 2022. See Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 976 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (en banc), aff'd, 517 U.S. 370 (1996). The court renders this memorandum opinion and order to construe certain terms of United States Patent Nos. 7,493,497 (“°497 Patent”), 8,020,008 (‘008 Patent”), 8,489,895 (“895 Patent”), and 9,507,948 (“°948 Patent”) (collectively, the “Patents-in-Suit”). Having considered the patents, prosecution history, applicable law, briefing, and arguments of counsel, the court renders the following claim-construction order. 1. Introduction Identity sued Apple in the Waco Division of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging that Apple infringes on the Patents-in-Suit through its “Secure

Enclave” system, which provides security and authentication measures in various Apple products such as iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. The Patents-in-Suit share a common specification and describe a “digital identity device” that uses digital identity data and a microprocessor with a unique identifier to secure digital transactions. The Waco Division transferred the case to this court on January 20, 2022. Il. Legal Standard Determining infringement is a two-step process. See Markman, 517 U.S. at 384 (“[There are] two elements of a simple patent case, construing the patent and determining whether infringement occurred ... .”). First, the meaning and scope of the relevant claims must be ascertained. Jd. Second, the properly construed claims must be compared to the accused device. Id. Step one, claim construction, is the issue before the court. Claim construction is “‘exclusively’ for ‘the court’ to determine.” Teva Pharms. USA, Inc.

v. Sandoz, Inc., 574 U.S. 318, 321 (2015). The court construes patent claims without the aid of a jury. See Markman, 517 U.S. at 391. The words of a claim “are generally given their ordinary and customary meaning.” Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1312 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc) (quoting Vitronics Corp v. Conceptronic, Inc., 90 F.3d 1576, 1582 (Fed. Cir. 1996)). “[T]he ordinary and customary meaning of a claim term is the meaning that the term would have to a person of ordinary skill in the art in question at the time of the invention ....” Jd. at 1313. The person of ordinary skill in the art is considered to have read the claim term in the context of the entire patent. Jd To ascertain the meaning of a claim, a court must look to the claim, the specification, and the patent’s prosecution history. Jd. at 1314-17. Claim language guides the court’s construction ofa claim term. /d. at 1314. “[T]he context in which a term is used in the asserted claim can be highly instructive.” /d. Other claims, asserted

and unasserted, can provide more instruction because “terms are normally used consistently throughout the patent... .” Jd Differences among claims, such as additional limitations in dependent claims, can provide more guidance. /d. at 1314-15. Claims must also be read “in view of the specification, of which they are a part.” Forest Lab’ys, LLC v. Sigmapharm Lab’ys, LLC, 918 F.3d 928, 933 (Fed. Cir. 2019). “[T]he specification ‘is always highly relevant to the claim construction analysis. Usually, it is dispositive; it is the single best guide to the meaning of a disputed term.’” Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1315 (quoting Vitronics, 90 F.3d at 1582). In the specification, a patentee may define a term to have a meaning that differs from the meaning that the term would otherwise possess. /d. at 1316. In such a case, the patentee’s lexicography governs. Id. The specification may also reveal a patentee’s intent to disavow claim scope. Jd. Such intention is dispositive of claim construction. Jd. Although the specification may suggest that a certain embodiment is preferred, a particular embodiment appearing in the specification will not be read into the claim when the claim language is broader than the embodiment. Electro Med. Sys., S.A. v. Cooper Life Scis., Inc., 34 F.3d 1048, 1054 (Fed. Cir. 1994). The prosecution history is another tool to supply the proper context for claim construction because it shows how the inventor understood the invention. Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1317. A patentee may also serve as his own lexicographer and define a disputed term in prosecuting a patent. Home Diagnostics, Inc. v. LifeScan, Inc., 381 F.3d 1352, 1356 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Similarly, distinguishing the claimed invention over the prior art during prosecution indicates what a claim does not cover. Spectrum Int’l, Inc. v. Sterilite Corp., 164 F.3d 1372, 1378-79 (Fed. Cir. 1988). The doctrine of prosecution disclaimer precludes a patentee from recapturing a specific meaning that was previously disclaimed during prosecution. Omega Eng’g, Inc. v. Raytek Corp., 334 F.3d

1314, 1323 (Fed. Cir. 2003). A disclaimer of claim scope must be clear and unambiguous. Middleton, Inc. v. Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co., 311 F.3d 1384, 1388 (Fed. Cir. 2002). Although “less significant than the intrinsic record in determining the legally operative meaning of claim language,” the court may rely on extrinsic evidence to “shed useful light on the relevant art.” Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1317 (internal quotations omitted). Technical dictionaries and treatises may help the court understand the technology and the way one skilled in the art might use

a claim term, but such sources may also provide overly broad definitions or may not be indicative of how a term is used in the patent. See id. at 1318. Similarly, expert testimony may aid the court in determining the meaning of a term in the pertinent field, but “conclusory, unsupported assertions by experts as to the definition of a claim term are not useful to a court.” Jd. Generally, extrinsic evidence is “less reliable than the patent and its prosecution history in determining how to read claim terms... .” Jd. Extrinsic evidence may be useful when considered in the context of the intrinsic evidence, but it cannot “alter a claim construction dictated by a proper analysis of the intrinsic evidence.” Jd. at 1319; On-Line Techs., Inc. v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Vitronics Corporation v. Conceptronic, Inc.
90 F.3d 1576 (Federal Circuit, 1996)
Home Diagnostics, Inc. v. Lifescan, Inc.
381 F.3d 1352 (Federal Circuit, 2004)
Eplus, Inc. v. Lawson Software, Inc.
700 F.3d 509 (Federal Circuit, 2012)
3m Innovative Properties v. Tredegar Corporation
725 F.3d 1315 (Federal Circuit, 2013)
Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc.
134 S. Ct. 2120 (Supreme Court, 2014)
Hill-Rom Services, Inc. v. Stryker Corporation
755 F.3d 1367 (Federal Circuit, 2014)
Richard Williamson v. Citrix Online, LLC
792 F.3d 1339 (Federal Circuit, 2015)
Trivascular, Inc. v. Samuels
812 F.3d 1056 (Federal Circuit, 2016)
Zeroclick, LLC v. Apple Inc.
891 F.3d 1003 (Federal Circuit, 2018)
Dyfan, LLC v. Target Corporation
28 F.4th 1360 (Federal Circuit, 2022)
Spectrum International, Inc. v. Sterilite Corp.
164 F.3d 1372 (Federal Circuit, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Identity Security LLC v. Apple, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/identity-security-llc-v-apple-inc-txwd-2022.